The Paralympics have started in Tokyo and on the first day, Australia has won six gold medals, one silver and three bronze which puts us at the top of the medal tally.
It was Australian cyclists who won the first two medals of the Games. Paige Greco and Emily Petricola both won their cycling events at the velodrome – the first two medals of the Games.
The swimmers took things a step further with four golds to William Martin, Lakeisha Patterson and best mates Ben Popham and Rowan Crothers.
Popham – who won both the men’s S8 100m freestyle – said to the media at the time: “I always tell my friends and family at home to not stress at the 50 if I’m not leading, and I quietly backed myself to reel ’em in but it still feels incredible.”
“I’m not sure the emotion’s going to set in for a while,” he added.
Winners talked about the positive effect of the Games
When talking to the media, our winners were full of inspiring messages for young people with disabilities, talking about how competing for the Games has transformed their lives.
Rowan Crowthers, who won the S10 50m freestyle and suffers from cerebral palsy and chronic lung disease said: “When I was really young, my disability was so severe and I started with swimming to help my cerebral palsy as that kind of therapy.”
“Back then, I hated it. I couldn’t stand it”, he said.
“If it wasn’t for discovering the Paralympics, I never would have even come close to this. It’s amazing to come up here and do this now and I’ve proved that I’m not just a person with a disability, I’m also an elite athlete,” he added.
Petricola said, after recording a world record at the Games, said she found her sport at a critical turning point in her life, kicking off a journey which has come to the point where she won her cycling event at the Games.
She said “words can’t describe” how grateful she was to Olympic rowing silver medallist Matt Ryan for suggesting she take up cycling and push for Tokyo and five-time Olympic cyclist Shane Kelly for his help along the way.
“They’ve changed my life and they’ve saved my life,” she said, before going on to thank her family and a long list of other supporters.
Excellence in the middle-distance swimming
The next events at the Paralympics were the middle-distance swimming and William Martin and Lakeisha Patterson took out the men’s and women’s S9 400m freestyle.
Patterson powered home to win over Hungary’s Zsofia Konkoly while Martin said he was just following his coach’s instructions.
“He told me to jump into this race as a bit of an introduction to the meet,” said Martin, standing alongside bronze medal winning teammate Alexander Tuckfield.
“I went alright, I guess I’ll just do what I’m told, see how things go, and yeah, here we are.”
Patterson said: “All I could do was attack it from the start and hold on. It was such a good race by everyone. I knew I had it in me. I knew what I was capable of but to be able to finally put all the pieces together was really exciting.
“It’s been such a long, hard couple of years. So, it’s just really really nice — oh my god, I told my couch I wasn’t going to cry,” she added.
Still in the pool, Paige Leonhardt claimed silver in the S14 women’s butterfly, just a second ahead of teammate Ruby Storm who won third.
Benjamin James Hance finished third in the men’s equivalent of the same race.
Photos: Getty Images
