The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games capped off an unforgettable summer of sport with two weeks of exciting competition and record-breaking action right up until the final day of the Games.
Italian Athlete Proposes to Girlfriend After Race
Italy’s Alessandro Ossola asked his girlfriend Arianna Mandradoni to marry him after competing in the men’s 100m T63 in front of 40,000 people at the Stade France. “You’re crazy!” she exclaimed, before saying the long-awaited “yes!”
“Sometimes she believed in me more than I believed in myself, and that’s a really amazing thing. You can do it, you can succeed, you can, you can,” she said. “That’s something that everybody needs, and I hope everybody finds someone like her. She’s my partner…for life,” Ossola said of his future wife.
Italy’s Alessandro Ossola asks his girlfriend to marry him after competing in the men’s 100m T63 at the Paralympic Games in Paris, September 1, 2024. – AP/Christophe Ena
Shark attack survivor wins two silver medals in swimming
Ali Truwit and a friend were snorkeling in the ocean off the British Overseas Territory of Turks and Caicos in 2023 when a shark charged and bit Truwit’s lower left leg. Truwit had to swim nearly 230 feet to the boat before being rushed to hospital and flown to the United States, where she underwent three surgeries, including the amputation of her lower leg.
She rediscovered her love of water by returning to swimming in her family’s pool, where she fought fear and regained control, beginning a new journey that took her to the Paris Paralympic Games, winning two Paralympic silver medals and breaking two American records in the span of 48 hours.
“I love comeback stories,” said the 24-year-old from Darien, Conn. “I’ve definitely relied on other people’s comeback stories to help me hold on to what seems like a bold and unrealistic hope — to fight a shark, survive, lose a limb and compete in the Paralympics all in the span of a year.
His mantra during his convalescence? “Work helps!”
Paralympic swimmer Ali Truwit trains at Chelsea Piers Athletic Club, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Stamford, Conn. – AP/Julia Nikhinson
Morocco’s El Idrissi breaks marathon record on final day
Morocco’s Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi broke the women’s marathon world record for visually impaired runners on the final day of the Paralympic Games.
The 29-year-old athletes finished in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 36 seconds on Sunday, beating the previous record set by Japan’s Misato Michishita in Hofu City in December 2020 by almost six minutes.
Her compatriot Meryem En-Nourhi is just over 9 minutes behind, followed by Spain’s Elena Congost. Michishita is fourth, almost 15 minutes behind the winner.
Tunisian Wajdi Boukhili won the men’s T12 marathon.
Morocco’s Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi celebrates her victory in the women’s T12 marathon at the 2024 Paralympic Games, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. – AP/Thibault Camus
Youngest Paralympic champion in men’s singles tennis
Japan’s Tokito Oda became the youngest athlete to win a men’s singles title when he claimed the Paralympic wheelchair tennis title after beating Britain’s Alfie Hewett 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
“After saving his match point, I told myself that I had to win, that I could win,” he said. “I just played my style.”
The 18-year-old had already won two Grand Slam titles by 2024 and is now the youngest Paralympic wheelchair tennis singles champion.
Tokito Oda of Japan celebrates winning gold in wheelchair tennis at the 2024 Paralympic Games, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. – AP/Thibault Camus
France breaks football medal drought in front of the Eiffel Tower
What better setting to take sweet revenge and win a football gold medal?
The French men’s blind football team won the final against Argentina, the same country that France lost the 2022 FIFA World Cup final to. This time, the hosts beat Argentina 3-2 on penalties under the lights of the Eiffel Tower.
Frédéric Villeroux, who scored the decisive penalty shootout, said it was like a movie script.
France also became the first team other than Brazil to win a blind football tournament at the Paralympic Games.
France and Argentina compete in the blind football gold medal match at the 2024 Paralympic Games, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Paris. – AP/Christophe Ena
Wheelchair racer wins gold as wife comments
Another love story at the Paralympics. Canadian wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos won gold in the men’s T53 800 metres while his wife, Paralympian Stefanie Reid, was on commentary.
“I just commented on my husband’s gold medal at the Paralympics,” she wrote on social media.
In Paris, Lakatos won his 13th medal at his sixth Paralympic Games, and his second gold after the one he won at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
His wife Reid won silver medals in the long jump at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games.
Canada’s Brent Lakatos competes in the men’s 200 metres T53 heat at the 2012 Paralympic Games, Friday, Sept. 7, 2012, in London. – AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth
First medal for the refugee Paralympic team
Zakia Khudaddu, Afghanistan’s first female taekwondo athlete, made history in Paris by winning the first-ever Paralympic medal for the refugee team.
Khudadadi won the bronze medal in the women’s 47kg category by beating Turkey’s Ekinci Nurcihan. When the final bell rang at the Grand Palais in central Paris, Khudadadi exploded with joy, throwing her helmet and mouthpiece into the air.
“It was a surreal moment, my heart skipped a beat when I realized I had won the bronze medal,” Khudadadi said, her voice shaking with emotion. “I have been through so much to get here. This medal is for all the women of Afghanistan and all the refugees in the world. I hope that one day there will be peace in my country.”
Zakia Khudadadi of the Refugee Paralympic Team, bottom, celebrates her bronze medal in Para Taekwondo during the Paralympic Games in Paris, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. – AP/Madeleine Mertens
USA wins third straight wheelchair basketball gold medal
After triumphing at the Olympics, the U.S. men’s basketball team asserted its dominance at the Paralympics by winning its third consecutive gold medal.
Jake Williams scored 26 points in the 73-69 win over Great Britain.
This makes it three times the United States has won the gold medal after both the men and women won thrilling finals against France at the Olympics last month, also at Bercy Arena.
Steve Serio of the United States hugs teammate Brian Bell as they celebrate their victory in the wheelchair basketball gold medal game, Paris – AP/Thomas Padilla
Caroline Groot sets new standard in Paralympic cycling
The 27-year-old Dutch track cyclist not only won the first ever gold medal of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, but she also broke the C5 world record, finishing in 35.390 seconds, ahead of French cyclist Marie Patouillet and Canadian Kate O’Brien.
Categories C1 to C5 are para-cycling classifications for athletes with physical impairments affecting their legs, arms and/or trunk that cause functionality problems, but who can use a standard bicycle.
Caroline Groot of the Netherlands reacts after winning the gold medal in the women’s C4-5 500m time trial final, 08/29/2024 in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines – AP/Thibault Camus
Soares da Silva breaks 29-year-old 400m world record
Brazil’s Rayane Soares da Silva won the women’s 400m T13 final, breaking a 29-year-old record.
She finished in an incredible time of 53.55 on the Stade de France track, surpassing the previous record of 54.56 set by American Marla Runyan in Los Angeles in 1995.
Despite the surprising result, Soares said she wasn’t too surprised: “I was training for this,” she said. “My 400 and 200 meter times were good in training.”
