US men land Paralympic basketball three-peat, Jiang Yuyan takes 7th swim gold for China
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The Americans were made to fight at a packed Bercy Arena by a determined Britain side before winning the gold medal with a 73-69 victory.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
PARIS – The United States won a third consecutive men’s Paralympic wheelchair basketball title on Sept 7, while teenage Chinese swimmer Jiang Yuyan collected a remarkable seventh gold of the Paris Games.
The Americans were made to fight at a packed Bercy Arena by a determined British side, appearing in the final for the first time since 1996.
But although Britain cut the deficit to three points with 14 seconds remaining with a Terry Bywater three-pointer, the US saw out the final seconds for the 73-69 win.
Jake Williams top-scored for the Americans with 26 points and the retiring Steve Serio hit 24 points.
“This is what dreams are made of, man,” said the 37-year-old Serio, who has three Paralympic golds, one bronze and five world championship medals.
“The totality of the journey, how much this team has grown up together. We’ve won together, we’ve lost together. To cap off my Team USA career with a win like this, with 12 athletes that I love and a great staff behind me, this is what dreams are made of.”
The men have now won gold in Rio, Tokyo and Paris and will go for four in a row in front of their home crowd at Los Angeles 2028.
The US women, champions in Rio and third in Tokyo, took silver after losing 63-49 to the Netherlands on Sept 8.
Jiang, 19, who lost her right arm and leg in a car accident at the age of four, landed gold No. 7 in the pool by breaking the world record in the women’s 100m backstroke S6 with 1min 19.44sec to defeat US defending champion Ellie Marks.
She was one of a quartet of Chinese swimmers who won titles as Paris 2024 said goodbye to La Defense Arena, one of the most atmospheric of the venues for the Olympics and Paralympics.
The Chinese collected a total of 10 medals for the night, including a sweep of the podium in the women’s 200m individual medley SM5, ensuring they finished top of swimming’s medal table for a fourth straight Games with 22 golds, 21 silvers and 11 bronzes.
“It’s really incredible for me,” said Jiang. “I just finish each small goal, then have a rest and start again. I don’t overthink it, I just do it. (Improving) the world record is a new challenge for me in the future. From now on, my competitor is myself.”
American swimming great Jessica Long, a double leg amputee, won the 18th gold medal of her career, and the 31st overall since her debut at Athens 2004, in the 100m butterfly S8.
On the clay courts of Roland Garros, Britain’s Alfie Hewett had one hand on the men’s wheelchair tennis singles crown, only to have it ripped from his grasp by 18-year-old Japanese player Tokito Oda.
Alfie Hewett (right) congratulating Tokito Oda after the men’s wheelchair tennis singles final.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Hewett, who won gold in the doubles on Sept 6 and Oda one of the losing duo, had a match point but had to settle for silver in the 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 loss.
At the Stade de France, British wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft won the 800m T34 for a second gold at these Games.
Meanwhile, the host nation had something to cheer when France won the men’s blind football gold in a penalty shoot-out against Argentina, after the match in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower finished 1-1.
On Sept 7, wheelchair fencing also wrapped up at the Grand Palais, the ornate venue that has spawned millions of social media pictures since it debuted at the Olympics, as China won the men and women’s epee team titles. AFP
