ATHENS, 21 September 2004 — China edged to the top of the medals table at the end of the second day of the Athens Paralympics, and was poised to continue its strong showing as competition resumed yesterday.
Three other countries also picked up five gold medals over the weekend: Traditional Paralympics powerhouses Spain and Britain, along with Germany. Hong Kong hung on tenaciously to its unexpectedly high standings, earning its fourth gold medal — like the other three, in wheelchair fencing — on Sunday, but slipped from 1st into 5th in the overall medals table.
Still shaken by doping scandals at the Sydney Paralympics, where 11 athletes were disqualified for using banned substances, the International Paralympics Committee has stepped up doping controls at Athens.
“We have carried out 209 controls so far,” IPC spokeswoman Miriam Wilkens said. “All of them were negative,” she said.
Among the highlights Sunday was a spectacular 10,000 meter final for blind non-seeing runners, Henry Wanyoike of Kenya, shattered his own world record by nearly one minute, finishing in 31 minutes and 37.25 seconds. “Even Henry was surprised,” said Wanyoike’s guide, Joseph Kibunja Gachui, who runs along with him during competition tethered by a rope. The able-bodied world record is under 27 minutes.
In wheelchair basketball, one of the marquee sports at the Paralympics, Australia, Canada and Germany were at the top of their pools in both men’s and women’s competition, almost certain to advance to the next round.
The premier sporting event for the disabled, compete over 12 days in 19 sports in six different categories of disability, resulting in more than 500 podiums and 3,000 medals awarded.
Meanwhile, a discus-throw champion from Iran lost his gold medal yesterday, when organizers decided he had been assigned to compete in the wrong disability category, IPC said.
Iranian Mokhtar Nourafsan on Sunday won the men’s discus throw in the F54 category for people with no trunk or leg function. But an ICP official decided later that Nourafsan should have competed in the F55 category instead, which is reserved for athletes who have no leg function but can rotate their spine.
Nourafsan’s gold went to runner-up Liang Fan from China. In order to ensure a maximum of fairness in a field of competitors with varying types and degrees of disability, Paralympics athletes are assigned a classification.
