“I came to Paris to get three gold medals and I achieved that goal so I’m very happy,” the swimmer said on Monday after winning his third gold medal in Paris, in the 200m freestyle category S2.
Brazil’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony had already won a first gold medal on Thursday in the 100m backstroke, opening his country’s tally, and a second on Saturday in the 50m backstroke final. In Tokyo in 2021, he had to settle for two gold medals and one silver.
As usual, he celebrated his victory on the podium with a few dance steps that he has the secret of. “It’s also a way of representing my country, I dance for the Brazilians, to make them happy and I want to see people dancing in Paris too,” exclaimed the swimmer, also a star of social networks.
Social media star
Gabriel dos Santos Araujo now has nearly 250,000 followers on Instagram, where he shares his daily life as an athlete. In one of his latest videos, he can be seen sleeping in his room at the Paralympic Village, his first two gold medals on his pillow, a small stuffed Phryge, the mascot of the Games, watching over them.
The para-athlete competes in the S2 category, reserved for people with a significant physical disability. In this category, races may be between swimmers whose disabilities are of a very different nature, but for whom it is accepted that the performance capacity in the stroke in question is comparable. The lower the number, the greater the functional loss.
Gabriel dos Santos Araujo has phocomelia, a malformation caused by the arrest of the development of one or more limbs during pregnancy. He has stumps at the level of the shoulders, his legs are atrophied, but he can walk on his two feet. To swim, he undulates in the water like a dolphin, with movements of the pelvis. A technique developed during long training sessions six times a week, in the swimming pool of Juiz de Fora, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (southeast).
At the Paris Games, he will line up for a final race on Friday, where he will face swimmers classified as S3, i.e. with handicaps a little less severe than his own. “I will compete just for fun,” he said.
On Sunday, he had already participated in the 150m three-stroke against competitors classified as S3 and finished fourth.
