TEAM GB GOLD SUCCESS AT RIO PARALYMPICS
Aiming for gold 50 at Rio Paralympics
We delighted at Team GBs success in the Olympics and today the Paralympic team are set to hit the 50 gold medal tally. Already they have smashed the London 2012 paralympic medal record and yesterday, on day eight, added a staggering 5 golds to the total.
Team GB will reach 50 gold medals today when Wimbledon wheelchair tennis champion Gordon Reid plays his doubles partner Alfie Hewett in the singles final. For those of you who stayed up late last night you will know that they were defeated in the wheelchair doubles by the France partnership of Stéphane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
In athletics, Richard Whitehead, attempted another gold win by taking on the 100m (T42). Despite a courageous strive towards the finish line he just couldn’t get the acceleration on his blades in time but managed to gain a silver medal.
Anne Dunham, seven times para equestrian medallist, took the silver in dressage, and is the oldest member of the GB team turning 68 on 24 September. She grew up with horses, was running a yard in her twenties then after the birth of her daughter was mistakenly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and has used a wheelchair since the age of 30. Only in 2011 was she correctly diagnosed with the neurological condition dystonia. She also had a quintuple heart bypass operation in 2009.
New sports means even more success for Team GB
With new sports being added to the Rio games Britain has stormed ahead. In the Paralympic triathlon Britain notched up one bronze, two silver and a gold medal won by Andrew Lewis. In canoeing GB gained three gold and two bronze medals.
I am looking forward to more Channel 4 LEXI animated insights, voiced by the wonderful Julie Walters, and seeing the British Team shake their medals with pride!
Catch up with the paralympics games timetable and latest results here:
http://paralympics.channel4.com/highlights/
http://paralympics.channel4.com/gb-glory/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/paralympics/rio-2016/schedule
Photo credit: Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid fought back from one set down to level the match but ultimately ran out of steam. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
Emma Wiggis of Great Britain in action during the Canoe Sprint – Women’s KL2 200m heat 1 at Lagoa Stadium at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. © • Alexandre Loureiro/Getty Images)