This article contains notable highlights from the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China.
Calendar
September 6 Opening Ceremony
Day 1: September 7
The first gold medal of the Beijing Paralympics went to Slovakia's Veronika Vadovicova in shooting, in the 10 metre air rifle competition."Du Toit wins gold in Paralympic swimming", Associated Press, September 7, 2008 In swimming, Natalie du Toit of South Africa won gold in the 100 metre butterfly event. The United States won four of the sixteen gold medals available in swimming on day one, more than any other country. After a strong performance at the Olympics, Great Britain won gold in all three of the first day events it had entered in cycling, with Simon Richardson, Darren Kenny, and the duo of Aileen McGlynn and Ellen Hunter."Paralympics: Britain's cyclists begin Games with hat-trick of golds", The Guardian, September 7, 2008 Of the four gold medals available for the first day in judo, the two women's went to China (Guo Hua Ping and Cui Na) and the two men's to Algeria (Mouloud Noura and Sidali Lamri), with all four wins being reported as unexpected."China, Algeria embrace two suprising [sic] judo golds each at Beijing Paralympics", Xinhua, September 7, 2008
Gold MedalistsSportEventCompetitor(s)CyclingMen's 1 km Time Trial (LC 3-4)Simon RichardsonWRCycling Women's 1 km Time Trial (B&VI 1-3)Aileen McGlynnEllen HunterWRCyclingMen's Individual Pursuit (CP 3)Darren KennyCycling Men's Individual Pursuit (CP 4)Christopher ScottCycling Men's Ind. Pursuit (B&VI 1-3)Kieran ModraTyson LawrenceWRJudoWomen -48 kgGuo Hua PingJudoWomen -52 kgCui NaJudoMen -60 kgMouloud NouraJudoMen -66 kgSidali LamriShootingWomen's R2-10m Air Rifle Stand-SH1Veronika VadovicovaShooting Men's P1-10m Air Pistol-SH1Valeriy PonomarenkoWR / PBSwimming Men's 200m Freestyle - S2Dmitrii KokarevWRSwimming Men's 100m Butterfly - S13 Dzmitry Salei WRSwimming Women's 100m Butterfly - S13Valerie Grand MaisonSwimming Men's 100m Freestyle - S3Du JianpingWRSwimmingMen's 100m Freestyle - S4David SmetanineSwimming Women's 100m Freestyle - S4Nely MirandaSwimming Men's 100m Freestyle - S5Daniel DiasWRSwimmingWomen's 100m Freestyle - S5Maria Teresa PeralesWRSwimming Men's 200m IM - SM6Sascha KindredWRSwimmingWomen's 200m IM - SM6Miranda UhlWRSwimming Men's 200m IM - SM7Rudy Garcia TolsonWRSwimming Women's 200m IM - SM7Erin PopovichWRSwimmingMen's 100m Butterfly - S8Peter LuckWRSwimming Women's 100m Butterfly - S8Jessica LongSwimming Men's 100m Butterfly - S9Tamás SorsWRSwimmingWomen's 100m Butterfly - S9Natalie du ToitWR
Day 2: September 8 The women's T54 5000 metre race in athletics was marred by a spectacular crash just before the final lap, when six athletes collided in a pile-up, several of them damaging their wheelchairs in the process and thus being left unable to complete the race. The crash was reported to have been caused by Swiss athlete Edith Hunkeler colliding with fellow Swiss athlete Sandra Graf, whereupon athletes behind them piled up over them. Hunkeler suffered a broken collarbone in the accident. Reaching the 50 metre mark, remaining competitors were then impeded by officials running across the track to assist fallen athletes. The race was won by Canada's Diane Roy, and the medal ceremony was completed, before IPC officials announced that they had ruled in favour of an appeal lodged by three countries, and cancelled the results. Medallists were asked to relinquish their medals, and the race was rescheduled for September 12 (with Hunkeler being disqualified), amidst significant controversy."GB may drop race crash appeal", BBC, September 9, 2008"Paralympics wheelchair race to be repeated after medals handed out" , Agence France-Presse, September 9, 2008 13-year-old Eleanor Simmonds of Great Britain became the youngest ever individual Paralympic gold medallist when she won the 100m freestyle S6 event in swimming."GB teenager takes swimming gold", BBC, September 8, 2008 Osamah Alshanqiti won Saudi Arabia's first ever Paralympic or Olympic gold medal, in the F12 triple jump, with a world record jump of 15.37 metres."Alshanqiti lands first Saudi gold in Paralympics", Xinhua, September 9, 2008"Results - Monday 8 September", BBC The People's Republic of China relay team of Zong Kai, Zhao Ji, Zhang Lixin & Li Huzhao sets a new world record of 49.89 seconds in round 1, heat 1 of the men's 4 × 100 m, T53-54.
Day 3: September 9 Great Britain won five more gold medals in cycling, bringing its total to nine golds and one silver in cycling. Of Britain's six cycling competitors on day 3, five took gold and the sixth, Rik Waddon, took silver behind fellow British athlete Darren Kenny in the 1 km CP3 time trial."GB cyclists take five more golds", BBC, September 9, 2008 Haider Ali won Pakistan's first ever Paralympic medal, a silver in the F37/38 long jump, with a world record jump. Farhat Chida of Tunisia broke Ali's new world record to take gold."Haider wins Pakistan’s first Paralympics medal", The News, September 10, 2008 Laurentia Tan won Singapore's first ever Paralympic medal, a bronze in equestrian in the individual championship test Grade Ia."Singapore wins first ever Paralympics medal" , AsiaOne News, September 9, 2008With Nothing to Lose, Tan rides into history , Beijing 2008 Paralympics, September 11, 2008 Oscar Pistorius of South Africa won the first of his three targeted gold medals, in the T44 100 metre sprint in athletics."Pistorius wins dramatic 100m gold", BBC, September 9, 2008 Chantal Petitclerc of Canada sets a Paralympic record of 16.07 seconds in round 1, heat 1 of the women's 100m, T54. Men's 4 × 100 m relay, T53-54 – China (Zong Kai, Zhao Ji, Zhang Lixin & Li Huzhao) won in 49.90, ahead of Thailand (Supachoi Koysub, Konjen, Prawat Wahoram & Pichet Krungget), 51.93 and Republic of Korea (Hong Suk-Man, Jung Dong-Ho, Kim Gyu-Dae & Yoo Byung-Hoon), 53.52. Pakistani powerlifter Ahmed Butt was the first athlete to be expelled from the Beijing Paralympics after testing positive for steroid use."Pakistani lifter banned over Paralympics doping", ABC Radio Australia, September 9, 2008
Day 4: September 10 Women's 100m, T54 – Chantal Petitclerc of Canada won in 16.15 seconds, ahead of Liu Wenjun, China, 16.20 and Dong Hongjiao, China, 16.24. Men's 400m, T54—Zhang Lixin, China won in 45.07 seconds, a new world record, ahead of David Weir, Britain, 46.02 and Saichon Konjen, Thailand, 46.86.
Day 5: September 11 Women's 200m Individual Medley, SM9 - Natalie Du Toit from Republic of South Africa won with a world record of 2 minutes and 27.83 seconds, ahead of Stephanie Dixon, Canada, 2:37.54, and Louise Watkin, Great Britain, 2:40.31."Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games Swimming Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM9" official website of IPC
Day 6: September 12 Women's 400m, T54 – Chantal Petitclerc of Canada won in 52.02 seconds, ahead of Tatyana McFadden, United States, 53.49 and Diane Roy, Canada, 54.72. Zhang Lixin of China sets a world record of 24.18 seconds in round 1, heat 2 of the men's 200m, T54. Men's 400m, T52 - Tomoya Ito of Japan won in 57.25 seconds (Paralympic Record) ahead of Toshihiro Takada, Japan, 60.32 and Dean Bergeron, Canada, 60.43 seconds.
Day 7: September 13 Archery Lindsey Carmichael of Lago Vista, Texas, Standing Recurve Female Archer for USA, won the first medal in archery by an American woman ever at a Paralympics, shooting the highest score of the recurve medal matches (105 out of a possible 120) and the first medal in archery for the US during both the Beijing Olympics & Paralympics.
Swimming New Zealand's Sophie Pascoe and Shireen Sapiro of South Africa finish in a dead heat in the women's S10 100m backstroke and each receive the gold medal.
Wheelchair Basketball Ahead of their scheduled quarter final game against the USA, the Iranian team withdrew from the men's wheelchair basketball tournament. In response, the Iranian Wheelchair Basketball Federation was suspended until 2013.
Day 8: September 14 Women's 200m, T54 – Chantal Petitclerc, Canada, won in 27.52 seconds (setting a world record), ahead of Tatyana McFadden, United States, 28.43 and Manuela Schar, Switzerland, 28.84. Women's 800m, T54 – Petitclerc won in 1:45.19 (a new world record), ahead of McFadden, USA, 1:46.95 and Diane Roy, Canada, 1:48.07. Men's 200m, T54 -- Zhang Lixin, China, won in 24.34, ahead of Saichon Konjen, Thailand, 25.15 and Leo-Pekka Tahti, Finland, 25.17 Men's 4 × 400 m relay, T53-54 – China (Cui Yangfeng, Zhao Ji, Li Huzhao & Zhang Lixin) won in 3:05.67 (a new world record), ahead of Thailand (Koysub, Wahoram, Krungget & Saichon Konjen), 3:11.63 and France (Julien Casoli, Pierre Fairbank, Alain Fuss & Denis Lemeunier), 3 :17.93. It is Zhang Lixin's fourth gold medal of the Games, and all with new world record times during the competition. As the cycling competitions come to a close, Great Britain has by far dominated the events, winning seventeen gold medals."Medallists: GBR - Great Britain" , official website of the 2008 Summer Paralympics
Day 9: September 15 Athletics Francis Kompaon wins Papua New Guinea's first ever Paralympic or Olympic medal - a silver in the Men's 100m (T46), in athletics. Kompaon finishes second to Australia's Heath Francis by 0.05 seconds."Silver for Francis Kompaon" , Oceania Athletics Association, September 15, 2008 So Wa Wai of Hong Kong wins gold in the men's T36 200m with a new world record time of 24.65.
Sitting Volleyball Iran win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the men's volleyball final.
Wheelchair Tennis Shingo Kunieda wins Japan's first paralympic gold medal in wheelchair tennis after winning over Robin Ammerlaan of the Netherlands in the men's final.
Day 10: September 16 Athletics Women's 1500m, T54 – Chantal Petitclerc of Canada wins her fifth gold medal of the Games in 3:39.88, ahead of Shelly Woods, Britain, 3:40.99 and Edith Hunkeler, Switzerland, 3:41.03. Oscar Pistorius of South Africa wins the third of his three targeted gold medals, in the Men's 400m - T44 category, in athletics."Athlete Biography: PISTORIUS Oscar" , official website of the 2008 Paralympics Men's 800m, T52 - Tomoya Ito of Japan won his second gold medal of the Games in 1:53.42, ahead of Toshihiro Takada, Japan, 1:53.67 and Thomas Geierspichler, Austria, 1:56.26. Tomoya Ito marked world record at round 1 Oxana Boturchuk wins gold in the women's T12 100m. Wang Fang of China sets a new world record of 13.83 in the final of the women's 100m T36.
Football 7-a-Side Ukraine win the gold medal after winning over Russia in added time in the final. Iran claim bronze after beating Brazil in the match for third place.
Wheelchair Basketball Australia defeat Canada 72-60 in the men's wheelchair basketball final to win the gold medal.
Wheelchair Rugby After Canada claimed bronze with a final win over Great Britain, the USA beat Australia in the final.
Day 11: September 17 Athletics Edith Hunkeler wins gold in the women's Marathon T54, beating Amanda McGrory of the USA by one second, while Swiss compatriot Sandra Graf completes the podium with the bronze.
Football 5-a-Side Brazil wins the gold medal after winning over the host nation China in the final. Argentina claimed bronze after winning a penalty shootout with Spain in the classification match.
Wheelchair Fencing Laurent Francois of France wins the last medal of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, beating Hui Charn Hung of Hong Kong in the final of the men's sabre B.
Closing Ceremony The Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games came to close on 17 September. Taking the theme ‘A Letter to the Future’ the Ceremony featured about 2,000 performers."Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games" official website of IPC London, the host of the 2012 Paralympic Games, staged an eight-minute performance and aimed to show how sport can promote the Paralympic Movement and positively influence young people's lives.
See also 2008 Summer Paralympics medal table Chronological summary of the 2008 Summer Olympics