It is a sequence that will probably mark the competition of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Brazilian para swimmer Gabriel dos Santos Araujo created a sensation during the final of the 100m backstroke in the S2 category for several reasons, including his very particular swimming technique for someone who has no arms and atrophied legs.
Affected by a malformation due to the arrest of the development of one or more limbs during pregnancy, otherwise known as phocomelia, Gabriel dos Santos Araujo is in the S2 category. In this category, there are several different physical handicaps but for which it is accepted that the performance capacity in swimming is comparable.
To win, the para athlete developed a surprising way of undulating his body in the water to swim like a dolphin. It was therefore thanks to pelvic movements that the 24-year-old phenomenon won and in the best possible way since he defeated the competition with a time of 1:53.67 ahead of the Russian competing under the neutral banner Vladimir Danilenko (2:01.34) and the Chilean Alberto Abarza Diaz (2:01.97).
