Amy Truesdale won Para-Taekwondo gold in dramatic fashion before Matt Bush claimed gold of his own at the Paralympics in Paris.
Truesdale, 35, was an 8-2 winner over Uzbekistan’s Guljonoy Naimova in the final of the women’s K44 +65kg category, but almost got disqualified with 65 seconds remaining after inadvertently landing a kick in the face of Naimova.
Despite being medically cleared to carry on, Naimova withdrew, awarding Truesdale the victory at the Grand Palais.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in,” said Truesdale, who celebrated by performing a cartwheel on the mat before doing the splits.
“I was like ‘I don’t know what to do as a celebration’ but for me it’s the last medal I need to complete my Para-taekwondo career.
“I’m Paralympic champion, I’ve made history, I’m the first person to do it and I’m so grateful for the support and I think I just need to cry on my own for 20 minutes after the medal ceremony.”
Shortly after, two-time world champion Bush, 35, beat Neutral Paralympic athlete Aliaskhab Ramazanov 5-0 in the men’s K44 +80kg final.
“I had fought him before, quite a bit,” he said. “He is a very good fighter and I had to be on it and that comes back to building a game plan. It was tough, it was hard but I had to fight.”
Source Agencies
