POLITICIANS IN Northern Ireland have paid glowing tributes to the three local Paralympians who have each won gold medals for the Ireland team.
Sprinter Jason Smyth, from Derry, and middle-distance runner Michael McKillop from Glengormley, outside Belfast, joined swimmer Bethany Firth from Seaforde, Co Down, in making Paralympic history.
The North’s sports minister Carál Ní Chuilín called their combined achievements “astounding”.
She said: “In less than 48 hours, our golden Paralympians have proved they are the best – it is an astounding achievement.”
South Down MLA Margaret Ritchie also gave them high praise, in particular her constituent Ms Firth. “She has shown such dedication, commitment and skill to climb to the top of her sport in a very short space of time. For someone who has just taken up the sport a few short years ago, and is the youngest athlete in the Ireland squad, it shows the magnitude of her achievement.”
Ulster Unionist sports spokesman Robin Swann said: “The Paralympics are prolonging the feelgood factor generated by the Olympics. [The Paralympians’] success adds to the medals won by Coleraine’s rowers and Belfast’s boxers a few weeks ago”.
He added: “I would like to send best wishes to all the Northern Ireland athletes competing in the Paralympics as part of London 2012. We are proud of them all.”
Meanwhile, Flybe is to name one of its aircraft after Olympic heroine Dame Mary Peters.
The plane, which will fly in and out of Belfast city airport, will carry a life-size image of Ms Peters on the Olympic podium in 1972. She won gold for the pentathlon in the Munich games.
It is part of celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of Peters’s achievements. Fellow Olympians including Dame Kelly Holmes, Duncan Goodhew and Daley Thompson attended a gala in her honour at Belfast’s Grand Opera House last night.