South Africa’s Paralympics team brought home 30 medals, including 21 gold, putting SA in sixth place out of 148 countries on the medals table. And not only the winners inspired people back home - the courage and determination of all 60 athletes gave South Africans something to celebrate after the able-bodied team’s lacklustre performance in Beijing in August.
Partially paralysed or partially blind, confined to wheelchairs or missing limbs - none of it mattered. They radiated cheerfulness, self-confidence and determination and turned national gloominess to pride.
Why did SA’s Paralympians fare so much better than our team at the Olympics?
It’s all about attitude to life, runner Oscar Pistorius believes. “You’re not disabled by your disabilities, you’re enabled by the abilities you possess.”
He won his third gold and set a new world record in the 400 m, the Games’ final track event.
Natalie du Toit, who won five golds and set a new world record, talks enthusiastically about China’s smooth running of the Games which, along with team spirit, contributed to their success.
Partially sighted swimmer Charl Bouwer (18), who won gold and set a new world record in the 400 m freestyle, agrees SA’s team spirit was something special. Track star Fanie van der Merwe (22), who won SA’s 20th gold medal in the 200 m, says, “There’s no jealousy. We prayed for and motivated one another to win.”
Gold medallist and discus thrower Fanie Lombard (39), a Paralympic veteran of four Games, found positive media coverage at home encouraging.
Swimmer Shireen Sapiro (17), who was partially paralysed in a boat accident a few years ago, won gold in the 100 m backstroke and enthuses about her wonderful teammates and managers.
The surprise at the Paralympics was 25-year-old Hilton Langenhoven of Somerset West. He feels the athletes had an advantage because they watched the Olympics and prepared mentally.
The visually impaired athlete’s gold medals in three very different events - pentathlon, long jump and 200 m - have been hailed as an extraordinary achievement.
Andy Scott, a paraplegic who swam in three previous Paralympic Games and was a manager with the SA team in Beijing, says without their sponsors the team would have been nowhere. “They gave us R40 million for the past two years’ preparation.”
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