US wheelchair racing legend Tatyana McFadden yesterday won her 18th Paralympic medal, while elsewhere at the Tokyo Games charismatic Italian fencer Beatrice “Bebe” Vio defended her title.
On Day 4 of the competition, 54 gold medals were up for grabs across nine sports, including 17 athletics finals at the Olympic Stadium.
McFadden took bronze in the women’s T54 5,000m to extend her streak of finishing on the podium in every Paralympic race she has entered since 2008.
Photo: AFP
However, she said just competing in Tokyo was a victory in itself, having been diagnosed with a blood-clotting disorder in 2017 that took almost two years to recover from.
“I’m on cloud nine,” said the 32-year-old, who was born in Russia and raised in an orphanage until she was adopted at the age of six. “I was in a really dark spot, because it took me 20 months to recover and everyone was getting better in those 20 months.”
It was “quite amazing” that she took the bronze behind US teammate Susannah Scaroni, who won gold, McFadden said.
Photo: AFP
Away from the track, Italian force of nature Vio, one of the world’s most recognizable Paralympians, defended her wheelchair fencing individual foil title from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
Vio, who had both forearms and legs amputated when she contracted meningitis as an 11-year-old, won all her morning pool bouts to book her place in the quarters.
She was in unstoppable form as she defeated China’s Zhou Jingjing 15-9 in the gold medal match, just as she had done in Rio five years ago.
The Italian screamed in joy before bursting into tears in the arms of her coach after the winning point was scored.
Vio had not been able to compete for two years before the Games because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and said that she was “scared” as she prepared to return to action in Tokyo.
“I don’t know what is going to happen this time, but I’m just so happy to be here,” she said on the eve of the Games.
Away from the competition, organisers apologised after a visually impaired Japanese judoka was hit by a self-driving bus in the Paralympic village on Thursday.
Tokyo 2020 suspended operation of the vehicles after the incident, in which one of the buses “made contact” with Aramitsu Kitazono.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
RSS