Sunday, September 2, 2012

Gold for Storey, bronze for Kenny at Paralympics

Storey took her tally of Paralympic golds to nine with another dominant performance, beating American Jennifer Schuble, considered a specialist in this discipline, by over a second.
Her husband, who had earlier piloted Neil Fachie to tandem success, was cheering on and Storey credited him for extending a Paralympic career that started as a teenager in Barcelona 20 years ago.
“Sometimes when the pressure is off you do the things you least expect,” said Storey, who won five golds in swimming, as well as collecting eight silver medals and three bronze, before switching to the cycling track in 2005.
“I watched Barney's race in the village and we passed on the way to the velodrome, I gave him a big hug, told them how amazing they were and said I hoped to be as amazing. Hopefully I was as amazing as them.

Sarah Storey, women's C5 individual pursuit, London 2012 (PA Sports)
“Barney’s got great experience as a sprinter and when I came along as a big-shouldered, raw swimmer he taught me everything I know."
Elsewhere, Jody Cundy won an emotional C4 oursuit bronze then declared his intention to carry on to Rio 2016 in search of the gold medal denied him on Friday, when he was ruled out of the time trial because of a false start.
And Jon-Allan Butterworth, the former RAF serviceman who lost his arm in a rocket attack in Iraq and is going for five medals at these Games, made it two silver medals from two attempts so far.
Cundy, whose x-rated meltdown is one of the most viewed sports clips on the internet, admitted he planned to retire before Rio but is now determined to carry on to 2016.
"It's a bronze but it feels like a gold," he said.
"Four years of my life have been dedicated to performing on this stage here in London and show the world exactly what I can do.
“Unfortunately, I didn't get to show them in the kilo, but hopefully they've got a glimpse of what was in there in my legs and enjoyed that just as much.
“I’ve got unfinished business in the Kilo. There’s going to be a lot of hard work and a lot of suffering but it’s well worth it to try and stand on top of that podium again.”
Butterworth knew he had his work cut out in the C5 4km pursuit after a breathtaking qualifying session that saw him take two seconds off the world record only for Australia’s Michael Gallagher to snatch it back with a five-second improvement.
And the same result was repeated in the final.
"I went out fast. I tried to match him and see what I had left. He's a great rider and I haven't been doing this for that long,” said Butterworth, who took up the sport two years ago.
“All these rivalries will bring the sport forward. In four years, where's it all going to be? I knew I was in good shape so it's not a bad debut."
Darren Kenny believes a freak accident on Thursday cost him his Paralympic individual pursuit title yesterday, admitting setting a new world record en route to bronze was scant consolation.
Kenny, 42, suffered an innocuous-looking crash on his out of the velodrome on Thursday – having finished fourth in the time trial – but with his knee not feeling 100 per cent 24 hours later, he tried to go easy in the morning’s heats.
It was a risk that Kenny paid for however as he clocked the third-fastest time in qualifying, ensuring the best the six-time Paralympic champion could hope for was bronze.
Kenny, who won four of his Paralympic gold medals at Beijing 2008, showed what he was truly capable of in the bronze medal race, clocking 3:35.257 minutes – 2.66 seconds than the gold medal ride – to set a new world record.
But with just one more opportunity to come, in Sunday’s mixed team sprint, to claim a London 2012 gold medal, Kenny last left to bemoan his tactics in the velodrome.
“I got my tactics wrong in the morning,” said Kenny. “I did what I thought was right, and it turned out that it wasn’t.
“I obviously got the next ride right, and it’s good to get the world record, but obviously I would rather have done it in the other race.
“Having hurt my knee yesterday, we went a bit softer in the morning ride because I thought that would be the best way to go. It turned out we should have just raced as hard as I possibly could as I did this afternoon.
“It’s just one of those things and it’s obviously nice to win that race and get a medal.”
Kenny took to the boards with the velodrome crowd still in shock after Jody Cundy, a five-time Paralympic champion – twice in cycling and three times in swimming – was controversially disqualified, prompting a raging response from the Brit.
But Kenny was adamant that had no effect on his performance.
He added: “I didn’t see anything of what happened with Jody and so I can’t really say anything about that.
“I was lying on my back having pins put in my legs at the time. I’m not really sure what happened but it didn't affect me.”
British team-mate Sean McKeown surprised himself to take silver, losing to American Joseph Bereyni in the final.
"I can’t complain. I’ve done two personal bests today,” he said.
“It's what makes you get out of bed in the morning. The crowd was absolutely phenomenal – they have been amazing.”

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