South African Natalie du Toit grabbed her third gold of the Paralympics yesterday on a day tarnished by more doping scandals and a ruling that an athlete is not disabled enough to compete.
As China pulled clear at the top of the medals table, du Toit smashed her own world record in the women’s 200m individual medley, leaving her competitors trailing as she bids for a five-gold clean sweep.
But away from the action, two powerlifters were slapped with two-year bans after traces of steroids were found in their bodies, organizers said.
PHOTO: AP
Facourou Sissoko, 46, a male competitor from Mali, and Ukranian female powerlifter Liudmyla Osmanova, 22, both failed pre-competition tests, the International Paralympic Committee said.
The positive results bring the number of powerlifters expelled to three. Pakistani Naveed Ahmed Butt, 37, tested positive for a steroid on Sept. 4, it was announced on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, German wheelchair basketball player Ahmet Coskun was kicked out of the Paralympics for taking a banned drug that can conceal performance-enhancing substances.
A total of 461 tests had been carried out, both in and out of competition, by the end of Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Irishman Derek Malone was banned from the Games because authorities deemed him not disabled enough, Irish sports chiefs said yesterday.
The Paralympic Council of Ireland (PCI) was notified this week that Malone, 28, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was ineligible to take part in the seven-a-side soccer tournament.
Cerebral palsy is an impairment resulting from injury to the developing brain that leads to altered neuromuscular function, but the condition can improve with athletic training, as was the case with Malone.
“I’m bitterly disappointed and frustrated by the whole process,” Malone, who won a bronze medal in his class in the 800m track in Athens in 2004, told reporters.
PCI secretary general Liam Harbison said Malone had been punished for training hard and pursuing excellence.
The ruling comes after Australian athlete Jessica Gallagher was last week told she was not blind enough to compete.
The controversies have taken some of the gloss of what has otherwise been a celebration of disabled sports, led by the performances of du Toit, fellow South African “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius and the dominant Chinese.
Du Toit did her best to force the focus back on the pool yesterday evening, swimming 2 mins 27.83secs, and finishing almost 10 seconds clear of Canada’s Stephanie Dixon.
The 24-year-old has already taken gold in the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle events in her class.
“I just went out there and had a good race. I just enjoyed it. I felt good in the warm-up so to get out there and have a good race was a bonus,” she said.
Du Toit, who finished 16th in the 10km marathon swim in the Olympics last month, is aiming for two more wins to match her gold tally at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.
She is one of only two Paralympians who also competed at the Beijing Olympics, along with Polish teenager Natalia Partyka, who won table tennis gold in her class on Wednesday.
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with
A baseball team from New Taipei City won the US Pony Palomino Division World Series yesterday in Laredo, Texas, defeating the US West representative team from Azusa, California, 2-1. Ku-Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School earned the right to represent Taiwan in the Pony Palomino (17 to 18 age group) World Series after winning this year's Wang Chen-chih Cup, a competition named after Taiwanese-Japanese baseball legend Wang Chen-chih (王貞治), also known as Sadaharu Oh. In the championship game against Azusa, Ku-Pao's starting pitcher Luo Yu-yan (羅于晏) was erratic early, giving up two hits in the bottom of the first inning, followed
Taiwanese pitcher Teng Kai-wei took the mound in New York on Saturday as the starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in his MLB season debut against the New York Mets, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing five runs. The Taiwanese right-hander struggled early, giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a three-run homer to Mets slugger Pete Alonso — his 250th career home run. However, Teng was not fazed and soon found his footing, holding the Mets scoreless in the bottom of the second and third innings. Meanwhile, Mets starter Kodai Senga of Japan made a few errors
RSS