BEIJING PARALYMPIC GAMES: SPRINTER JASON Smyth made it all look very easy as he chalked up his second Paralympic gold with a storming win in the 200 metres for visually impaired athletes in front of 91,000 spectators, in yet another world record time.
It was a huge win for the Derry sprinter and a great way to draw a line under a strong performance by Team Ireland in the Paralympics - his race was the last Irish event of what have been a spectacular Games.
"This is what the whole year has been about, right for this moment and this success. It all went to plan and it's such a relief. So many people have put in so much effort. It's great for the people around me that it has paid off. I am looking forward to going home, to put the legs up for a couple of weeks!" said Smyth.
After a false start by another runner, Smyth won the race easily, blasting around the bend and leaving Alexey Labzin of Russia 0.45 of a second behind as he finished. Smyth won the race in 21.43 seconds, a massive 0.38 of a second ahead of the world record that he set in qualifying. He did the same thing with the 100 metres, winning gold in the final in a record 10.62 seconds, beating a record set in qualifying of 10.81. He also beat Labzin into second place in the 100 metres final.
"Things went very well, I am very pleased. After the false start I knew I had a good start but had to do it again. I had to attack the bend to put the guys under pressure; it's where I would be the strongest. The bend went well and I had a good lead into the straight," said an elated Smyth as family, friends and supporters cheered. Cheering the loudest was Smyth's room-mate and fellow gold medallist, the teenager Michael McKillop who won the 800 metres (T37), also in record time.
It has to be said, the omens in the lead-in to the race hardly seemed to herald a classic. "He hurt his hamstring yesterday after the heat and the physios have been working on him. But he did everything as planned. He had a great start, built up and put the Russian under pressure," said his coach Stephen Maguire.
More anxious moments, when the heavens opened, thunder roared and lightning split the sky. Teams of volunteers looking like poncho-ed synchronised swimmers, mopped up and dried the track. Smyth suffers from Stargardt's Disease, a hereditary degenerative visual impairment which affects your central vision but does not affect your peripheral vision. In Smyth's case, the Irish athlete often has difficulty seeing the track lines in wet conditions but tonight found the conditions had cleared up sufficiently by the time his race got underway.
"The glare on the track wasn't too bad today after the rain so it wasn't really a problem thankfully," he said.
Smyth interrupted his lap of honour to embrace his team-mate, Orla Barry, who started in third place in the discus competition (F57/58 Class), but then finished fifth after she fouled all three of her final throws.
His gold was the fifth Irish medal of these Games after Gay Shelly took bronze in the individual boccia competition, McKillop's 800 metres gold, Darragh McDonald's silver in the 400 metre freestyle (S6) and then Smyth's 100 metres gold.
Elsewhere yesterday, the 7-a-side football team went down 4-2 to the Dutch, leaving Ireland in sixth place; an improvement of two places on their eighth finish in Athens. Tralee's Roy Guerin finished sixth in his heat in his only event, the 100 metres (T53 Class).
"From an Irish perspective, we beat our target of four medals and 12 finalists - in the end we got five medals, including three golds, and had 22 finalists," said the Paralympics Council of Ireland general secretary Liam Harbison.
"Apart from Gabriel Shelly, these were people you hadn't heard of in Athens, all youngsters like Darragh (McDonald) and Ellen (Keane), Padraic Moran in the boccia who is just 21, and of course Michael McKillop and Jason here tonight. It's all very encouraging and London is calling us," said Harbison.
Oscar Pistorius described winning his third gold of the Beijing Paralympics as "one of the proudest moments of my life" today. The 21-year-old South African, known as the 'Blade Runner' due to his prosthetic legs, added the men's T44 400 metres title to his 100m and 200m triumphs. Pistorius clocked a world record of 47.49 seconds despite wet conditions which made running on his blades difficult.
