The National Stadium of the Beijing Paralympic Games witnessed several amazing moments on Sunday when the eldest track and field Paralympian won his first medal in the tournament, Canada's Petitclerc grabbed two golds in one evening, and Kenya's Kirwa went home with his third title.
In men's discus F53/54 (wheelchair athletes with differing levels of spinal cord injuries and amputations), Japan's 60-year-old Toshie Oi, the eldest track and field athlete at the Beijing Paralympics, secured his bronze medal at the first attempt. He made a throw of 26.21 meters, registering an F53 class Paralympic record.
Working for a junior high school, the Japanese started training in 2002 and showed his Paralympic debut just four years ago in Athens where he earned a silver medal.
"I enjoy drinking, but I gave up drinking three years before the Athens Games," said Oi who abstaining from alcohol until 2006 when he won a gold medal at the world championships. "I think giving up alcohol can help me achieve better results... so I won't drink until the London Games when I win a Paralympic gold."
Petitclerc took her old world record with 27.52 seconds to win the gold medal of women's 200m T54 in the afternoon.
Just one hour later, Petitclerc, who won five gold medals at the Athens Paralympics, took another gold in 800m T54 with another new world record of one minute and 45.19 seconds, leaving Tatyana McFadden of the USA in the second place, for the second time in the evening.
After his gold medals in the 1500m and 5000m, Kenya's Henry Kiprono Kirwa has done it again on the night in the men's 10000m T12. He set a Paralympic record time of 31 minutes and 42.97 seconds.
Chinese men's relay team blazed tracks to win the 4x400m T53/54(athletes with wheelchairs) has highlighted the six gold medals won by the host athletes on Sunday in the Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest.
The Athens gold medallist Fan Liang led China's gold rush of the day who picked up back-to-back Paralympic gold medals in men's discus F53/54 with an F54 world record of 31.08m.
Mi Na broke the F37 world record twice to take the gold in women's discus F37/38 (ambulant athletes with cerebral palsy). She threw 31.58m to set a record before extending that to 33.67m at her final attempt, much to the delight of the crowd. Defending champion Li Chunhua finished fourth.
Guo Wei also twice registered an F35 world record in men's shot put F35/36 (ambulant athletes with differing levels of cerebral palsy). After throwing a record-breaking 15.78m, he managed 16.22m on his final throw to take the gold.
Tang Hongxia's throw of 12.69m gave her a trophy in women's shot put F12/13 and Zhang Lixin won his third gold medal at the Beijing Paralympics by setting a tournament record of 24.18 seconds in men's 200m T54.
(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2008)