Paralympics: Records fall as Kiwis take two more golds

By GREG ANSLEY

SYDNEY - New Zealand's Paralympic medal rush continued yesterday with golds in the swimming pool and in the javelin, and a silver on the running track.

Those feats took the nation's total to three golds and five silvers.

Auckland swimmer Dean Booth slashed 8.36s off the 400m S7 freestyle world record.

As well, Te Awamutu's John Dowall set a new Paralympic F44 javelin record to add gold to the silver he won in the shot put on Friday.

Mathhew Slade of Christchurch won silver in the men's T37 final.

Booth's new world record swim of 4m 53.75s came in a rush of barrier-breaking performances that have confirmed pre-Games predictions that Paralympics sports is only at the start of a performance curve that will rapidly narrow the gap between disability and able-bodied sports.

At least 30 world records have been broken in the first four days of competition.

Booth's was the third world-beating race in as many races, following American Stephanie Brooks new record in the women's S6 400m freestyle. In the race preceding the American woman's, Denmark's Peter Lund Andersen set a new record in the men's S6 400m freestyle.

Booth, with a personal cheer squad of 20 family and friends, led his race from the start, working to stave off his major threat, Britain's David Roberts, the fastest qualifier.

In a heart-stopping final sprint, Booth, who has cerebral palsy, held off Roberts to finish just 0.11s ahead of the Briton's 4m 53.86s.

"I knew Robert would would come back at me on the last 15m so I stuck to my plan to lead all the way and get a big enough lead to stave off at the end, and I did it," he said.

"I knew I just had to go it all no matter how much pain there was.

"I'm just so stoked - it's excellent.

"The time was awesome ... I loved the time. I didn't think I would swim that fast."

France's Frederick Delpy won bronze.

Dowall, a below-knee amputee, was disappointed that he missed the world record by just 6cm with a 54.89m throw.

But he was elated to secure the gold medal he had hoped to win in Atlanta.

His third throw was nearly 3m better than his next-best effort and 1.35m further than the previous Paralympic record.

Although he failed to beat the record of 54.95m set by China's Silao Ha last year, he had the satisfaction of beating Ha into the silver last night.

"It's something I will never forget.

"There were a lot of Kiwis in the crowd - I could see the flags and they were fairly vocal.

"But, you know, it would have taken someone a lot better than me to beat me today."

Slade, who has cerebral palsy, equalled his personal best to win silver in his race behind Algerian Mohamed Allek who recorded 24.39s.

"I feel pretty choked about it," he said.

"It's awesome. It's the best experience I have ever had.

"I finished the race and didn't even know where I was.

"I had to watch the replay on the TV."

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