ParalympicsGB are well on their way to achieving their most successful ever Paralympic Games after winning eight golds on an extraordinary day in Rio.
Rachel Morris’s single sculls victory sparked three rowing golds in the space of an hour at the start of a morning that featured two more cycling golds and the evening ended with a second swimming triumph for Bethany Firth, a second successive T42 200m title for Richard Whitehead and F51 club throw glory for Jo Butterfield on her Paralympic debut.
Britain also won six silvers and seven bronzes, taking their overall medal tally to 56, with 23 of them being gold. Second behind China in the standings, they are closing on their target of 121 medals. Morris, a former cycling champion who switched to rowing a year after being hit by a car during a training ride shortly before London 2012, believes her gold medal should inspire people in times of adversity. “It’s a strange thing,” she said after winning single sculls gold. “It takes a bit of time to realise it. I can’t tell you what I’ve gone through to get to this point. If anybody can make any difference to somebody else’s life, that’s a massively important thing. If that enables somebody else to do something – whether it’s grassroots or elite – then that’s really important. That’s what medals are about.”
Whitehead was far too good in the Olympic Stadium. “The Paralympic legacy has changed over the last four years,” the 40-year-old double through-knee amputee said. “You can see it’s very competitive now. Today was just about winning the race. I saw the finish line, knew I’d won with about 20m to go and lots of things went through my head about how hard I’ve had it for 40 years.
“It’s been such a long journey of ups and downs. I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to continue but I think it’ll probably be one more year. The 200m was my medal – the 100m I’m going to take from somebody else.”
- This article was amended on 12 September 2016 to clarify the number of medals won by Great Britain on the day, and the number they hold overall.
