Madison de Rozario won Australia’s first track and field gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympics over the weekend, taking out the women’s T53 800 metres in Sunday night’s final.
de Rozario, the reigning world champion, finished with a time of 1 minute, 45.99 seconds, breaking the Paralympic record, and claiming her maiden gold medal. She beat China’s Zhou Hongzhuan by 1.67 seconds and Catherine Debrunner from Switzerland, who took out the bronze.
De Rozario is a four-time Paralympian, and has previously won three silver Paralympic medals, including in the 800m and 4x400m relay at the Rio Games in 2016, and her first in Beijing in 2008. She has long been working towards Sunday’s gold medal.
GOLD GOLD GOLD!
— 7Sport (@7Sport) August 29, 2021
Madi de Rozario takes GOLD in the T53 800m!
Broadcast Partner @australianbeef | #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/jORf6xMMOl
After the race, de Rozario praised fellow Paralympian Angie Ballard, and her coach Louise Sauvage, one of Australia’s most decorated Paralympians, for instilling confidence in her.
“They (Ballard and Sauvage) are two women who have been there every single point of my career, but also of my life,” de Rozario said. “I wouldn’t have wanted to do it without them here.”
de Rozario finished fifth in the T54 5000m race on Saturday, and is set to race in the 1T54 500 on Monday, and the T54 marathon next Sunday.
Aussies claim more silver medals
de Rozario claimed gold on the same day 20-year-old Australian Isis Holt won her second silver medal in Tokyo in the T35 200m sprint, just behind China’s Zhou Xia who broke her own world record to win the gold medal.
“Coming off that bend I felt like I got everything right that I wanted to get right and then, you know, the nature of cerebral palsy I think caught me off guard a little bit halfway down that 100m straight,” Holt told Channel Seven.
“But I feel like I hung on as best I could and I’m just trying to soak all that in.”
“If you’re not going to be the one breaking the world record or winning the gold medal, you might as well make the other athlete work hard for it.”
Also over the weekend, Ellie Cole, Isabella Vincent, Emily Beecroft and Ashleigh McConnell took out silver in the pool in the 34 points 4x100m freestyle relay. The Aussie relay team came in behind Italy, with a time of 4:26.82.
🥈 SILVER FOR THE WOMEN’S 4x100m FREE (34 points)🥈
— Australian Swim Team (@DolphinsAUS) August 29, 2021
Congratulations to Ellie Cole (S9), Isabella Vincent (S7), Emily Beecroft (S9) and Ashleigh McConnell (S9) who came home second in a fast finishing race 🔥#ReadySetTokyo | #Paralympics | #ParaSwimming | @AUSParalympics pic.twitter.com/nPOFh5YjJl
Elsewhere, Lauren Parker won silver in the PTWC triathlon, after being pipped on the post by Kendall Grestch from the US, who overtook her in the final seconds to dramatically finish in front by just 0.01 of a second.
“I just put my head down and went for it. I knew she was coming,” Parker said. “I did the best I could but got stuck behind one of the girls on that last U-turn and lost a few seconds there.
😲 What an extraordinary finish to the women’s PTWC #Triathlon! #USA‘s Kendall Gretsch beats #AUS‘s Lauren Parker ON THE FINISH LINE!#Tokyo2020 #Paralympics @worldtriathlon pic.twitter.com/RL22NTIB87
— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) August 28, 2021
Also on Sunday, 45-year-old Sarah Edmiston took out the bronze medal in the women’s F64 discus, and Robyn Lambird won bronze in the women’s T34 100m.