Australian athlete Jaryd Clifford has been left shattered after he was stripped of his bronze medal at the Paralympic Games.
The 25-year-old runner crossed the line in third place of the 5000m event, before he was sensationally disqualified.
The visually impaired Clifford and his guide celebrated shortly after crossing the line until officials stepped in over a rule breach.
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The Aussie had dropped the tether which ties him to his guide moments before he had crossed the line in the men’s T13 final.
Vision-impaired runners must hold onto the tether until they’ve finished the race in its entirety.
Clifford was the only runner in the field to use a guide and was left visibly distraught after learning he had been disqualified and stripped of his bronze medal.
“I went and saw mum and dad and my girlfriend and broke down,” Clifford said.
“I had my little cry on the side of the track. If you talk about reacting to results as grief, I had my grieving moment.
“Out on the track, I was a little bit numb, I’m still a bit numb … I am pretty shattered, to be honest, if I’m frank about it, we went in with the aim of winning gold.”
He later wrote on social media: “I’m absolutely gutted that we made such a critical mistake today. Remaining tethered is a fundamental rule of guiding and I’m shattered that I lost my mind in those final metres. I’ve got so much more to give, I promise to bring everything for the 1500m on Tuesday.”
Fans watching on couldn’t believe the Aussie had been stripped of the medal in a moment that had no impact on the final outcome of the race.
One person on X wrote: “So you run 4999 metres tethered and wouldn’t effect the result of the race then the race rules are s**t.”
A second added: “When the athlete is in front of the guide … Rules need a review imho. Even things like a all ok if the athlete is in a certain distance from the line (like not a lot obviously) I dunno. Just an interesting (and devastating for the athlete in this case) scenario.”
While it was heartbreak for Clifford, two former Chinese champions who left their Communist homeland to start a new life in Australia have repaid their adopted country by teaming up to win gold in table tennis.
Lei Lina and Yang Qian joined forces to beat Taiwanese top seeds Lin Tzu Yu and Tian Shiau Wen 11-7 11-6 3-11 12-10 in the W20 classification final.
“It’s so exciting to get to our first double gold medal,” said Lina.
“It’s a different meaning for us because last time in Tokyo, we only got the single medals but this time we made new history.”
Before the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, Australia had only ever won two gold medals in table tennis — one each in 1964 and 1984 – but they’ve more than doubled that since the arrival of the dynamic duo Lina and Qian.
While both won gold in their respective singles categories at Tokyo, they suffered a surprise loss in the doubles final, so had been training relentlessly in the three years since desperately hoping to make amends.
– with Julian Linden, News Sport Network
Source Agencies
