China´s defending He loses gold, but wins respect

Source: China Daily | 09-09-2008 15:18

BEIJING - After an exciting start for the Paralympic swimming on Sunday, world records continued to tumble on the second day's competition.

China's defending champion He Juquan looks  at his marks at the finishing line after  the men's 50m backstroke S5 preliminary Sept. 8, 2008. [Xinhua]

However, the most emotional moment on Monday did not come from gold winners.

China's defending champion He Juquan's courage illuminates the pool of the Water Cube and inspired those who are fighting destiny.

"Touch your heart, touch your soul." It might be the most proper words to describe the finals in men's 50m backstroke S5.

With both hands amputated, He had to touch the wall painfully with his head. He shattered the world record in the heat but failed to head the wall first in front of the powerful splash from Daniel Dias's arms.

The Brazilian caught up with He in the final 10 meters and touched the wall first beating He by just 0.15 seconds.

"It's really a pity. I feel that I have disappointed everyone, I blame myself on that. I dashed too hardly at the beginning, so I ran out of strength in the end," said He with a bunch of flowers from the fervent crowd.

No one will come to blame him. He lost the gold, but won the respect.

"It was sensational. He is a strong man and good swimmer. After the finish I had to look at the scoreboard and it took me a while to realize I had won. The match was decided on the touch, so it was more exciting," said the winner.

The hosts' only gold came in the men's 100m freestyle S8. After failing to clinch the deserved gold on Sunday, China's iconic swimmer Wang Xiaofu won the event in 58.84 seconds, a new Paralympic record.

"I proved that I am not bad. In this event I gave all I have. I want to give the flowers to my girlfriend and I want to say 'I love you' to her. I want to especially thank my parents, they came to watch my races both yesterday and today," Wang said.

"From now on I will have more power. I am confident of everything. My goal is to get more gold medals. The opponents are very strong, I will try as hard as I can," said the 20-year-old emulative Wang, who will swim in the other seven events in the following days.

Elsewhere, 14 world records in total were shattered from the 18 disciplines of the day.

In men's 100m butterfly S10, Andre Brasil of Brazil, who advanced to the final with a fastest 59.13 seconds, took the winning time further down to 56.47, bettering the world record in 1.08 seconds. The Brazilian said the saved energy in the heat helped him win the gold.

"I still haven't realized it, I can't believe it. I swam 90 per cent this morning, so I knew I would swim faster now but not that much. I have worked so hard this year for that. It's a dream come true," said the winner.

China's Tang Yuan failed to block the Anders Olsson's strong comeback. The Swede led throughout the whole course and updated the world record set by himself in 2006 to one minute 05.95 seconds. Tang took the silver and his compariot Yang Yuanrun settled for the bronze.

"This morning I didn't feel like I swam so good so I tried a new swim suit. But it was very nice in the night, to do it here in Beijing was really great," said the winner.

Women's 400m freestyle S13 also witnessed a new world record in the evening. Canada's Valerie Maison Grand, who equalled the Paralympic record in the heat, refreshed her former world mark to 4:28.64.

"I just put my earphones in and listened to music to keep my focus before the final swim. I'm doing everything I can to be the best and fastest swimmer, and I'm willing to fight for it," said the Canadian.

The swimmers from Russia (twice), Mexico, Brazil, Ukraine (twice), Cyprus, Australia (twice) and South Africa created the rest 11 new world marks.

The Beijing Paralympic swimming competitions have attracted 560 athletes in 81 men's and 59 women's events. The nine-day contest runs from September 7 to 15.

Editor:Xiong Qu