Belgian medal total triples after dream day at Paralympic Games

A Belgian medal shower flooded Paris on Wednesday. Our country won six new medals, two of which were gold.

Three medals after six days in Paris. Team Belgium’s harvest at the Paralympic Games had not been particularly impressive until Wednesday. But that changed yesterday. A shower of Belgian medals fell from the cloud cover above the French capital.

It started early in the morning in G-cycling. Ewoud Vromant had already won silver on the track, and added silver again in the time trial of the C2 class. Barely an hour later, a second cycling success followed. Handbiker Maxime Hordies blasted to silver in his time trial, a medal that “feels like gold” to him.

Met Tim Celen in Jonas Van de Steene There were two more Belgian medal candidates ready in cycling. Celen, an athlete in the T2 class, had to compete against riders from the T1 class with a more severe disability. To compensate for that difference, the time of the T1 riders was reduced by 13%. Despite that major disadvantage, Celen still won a fine bronze. Van de Steene went in search of his first individual Paralympic medal and succeeded in that as well. The hand biker blasted to the bronze medal with “the perfect form at the right time”.

George on a record hunt

Met Michele George a Paralympic figurehead also came into action. The 50-year-old rider had already won gold in para-dressage at the Games in London, Rio and Tokyo and in Paris she added a historic fourth title in a row, her sixth in total. On Saturday, George can equal the Belgian Paralympic record of wheelchair sprinter Paul Van Winkel with a new victory in the freestyle competition. He won seven gold medals at the Games in the 1980s.

Met Lea Bayekula Finally, one more compatriot came into action in the evening session of athletics. The wheelchair sprinter had missed out on the podium in the 800m, but was determined to win a medal in the 100m. In the end, it was gold. With a powerful final sprint, she raced to her first Paralympic title. The Belgian medal total now stands at nine: three times gold, three times silver and three times bronze. (fp)