Team South Africa’s Paralympic medal chase is off to a golden start after Port Elizabeth swimmer Kevin Paul powered his way to breaststroke gold in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday night.
25 year-old Paul won the SB9 100-metre event in 1min 04.86sec to win his second Paralympic gold medal after doing the same in Beijing eight years ago.In London four years ago, Paul had to settle for silver in his keynote event.
The NMMU law student, who is now based in Durban with national swim coach Graham Hill, had earlier dominated has heat and was the fastest of the qualifiers by more than a second going into the final.
"It wasn’t my personal best but tonight was never about time, it was about getting into that pool and getting to the 100m first. I can jump into the pool next week and swim a faster time but it’s not going to get me a Paralympic gold," said Paul after getting gold.
"My coach and I discussed this beforehand and it was about going out comfortably and steady."Looking back at Beijing and getting on to those blocks as a 17-year-old and getting away with a gold I don’t think I really knew what it meant but I truly appreciate it now and also how much work goes into it."
Referring to his training group, Paul said: "It’s such a competitive group and you get there at 5am and just see everyone there with the same goal as you. It wasn’t just me in the pool tonight, it was the whole squad, coach and family etc."
Paul can now take a bit of a breather before his 200 Individual Medley later in the Games.
