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London: Dutch wheelchair tennis ace Esther Vergeer stretched her remarkable unbeaten run to 470 matches as she struck Paralympic gold again, as South Africa’s Natalie Du Toit swam her final race.
Ireland’s Jason Smyth meanwhile proved himself as the fastest Paralympian in history by defending his 100m and 200m double from Beijing on Friday, while Du Toit’s teammate Oscar Pistorius sought to salvage his Games after two shock defeats.
The penultimate full day of competition in London saw a number of sports reach their conclusion, with Vergeer’s title never destined for anyone else given her remarkable winning streak in singles that stretches back to 2003.
In the Olympic Stadium, Irish sprinter Smyth showed his undisputed class by breaking his own T13 200m world record for visually impaired athletes to win in 21.05sec, less than a week after winning the 100m in another world best time.
Brad Snyder won the men’s S11 400m freestyle gold for blind and visually impaired swimmers — exactly a year to the day since he was blinded on the battlefields of Afghanistan.
Jacqueline Freney won her eighth gold of the Games as Australia’s women won the 4x100m medley 34 points relay; Brazil’s Daniel Dias and Matthew Cowdrey of Australia both claimed their fifth golds.
In cycling, more road medals were decided at the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in southeast England, with another gold for former Formula One and Indy car driver Alessandro Zanardi.
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