Love on the tracks
Love was in the air on the track on Sunday night at the Paralympics as Italian sprinter Alessandro Ossola proposed to his girlfriend after the 100m T63 heats.
“You’re crazy,” said his now-fiancee Arianna as she said “yes” in front of 40,000 spectators. Ossola was grateful for Arianna’s love and support during the tough times, saying “sometimes she believed in me more than I believed in myself”.
“I thought of proposing here a few weeks ago. That’s the side that nobody sees about athletes. I’m coming here as a 36-year-old, thanks to the people that are around, the staff, family, and obviously in my case, my girlfriend who supports me every day,” he said.
Ossola lost his first wife and most of his left leg in a motorcycle accident in 2015.
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“Sport gave me a way to take action and a way of out of a very dark period,” he said. Ossola works for Icon PLC, an Irish-founded company, in Milan and established the first inclusive padel circuit and Bionic People – a non-profit association dedicated to changing the misconceptions that people have about disabilities.
Ossola finished fifth in his heat and missed out on qualification for the final after a time of 12.46, but he is winning in many other ways.
Rower makes bad call
Italian para rower Giacomo Perini was disqualified and stripped of his bronze medal in the PR1 men’s single sculls for using “communication equipment”.
World Rowing said Perini was found to be using it during the race. “As a result, the crew has been excluded from the event and will be ranked last.”
The Italian rowing federation’s appeal was rejected by World Rowing. Gold medal winner Ben Pritchard said he saw Perini with his phone in the boat in a race where athletes row with their backs to the finish line.
“He had an open phone on in the boat and you’re not allowed communication like that,” Pritchard said.
The medal was given instead to Australian Erik Horrie, with Ukraine’s Roman Polianskyi taking silver.
Indian archer goes viral
The 17-year-old Indian paralympic archer Sheetal Devi proved to be a viral hit after striking the bullseye in her match against Chilean archer Mariana Zuniga in the women’s compound, with one video amassing 48 million views on Twitter/X. Born without arms, she uses her right leg to lift the bow, her right shoulder to draw the string and the strength of her jaw to release the arrow. Devi is the only female archer to compete without arms. She lost narrowly to Zuniga, by 138 to 137.
Renowned sitting volleyball player forced to sleep on floor
The world’s second tallest man and renowned sitting volleyball player Morteza Mehrzad has been forced to sleep on the floor at the Paralympics village in Paris after his “special bed” failed to arrive in time for the Games.
Iran’s Morteza Mehrzad stands at 8ft 1in, just below Turkey’s Sultan Kosen who is 8ft 3in. The 36-year-old was born with a rare medical condition called acromegaly, which causes excess growth.
“In Tokyo, they have made a special bed, but unfortunately not here,” his head coach Hadi Rezaei told Olympics.com. “He’s going to lie on the floor.”
His head coach was bullish about his chances though. “It doesn’t matter for him whether he will lay on the floor or he’s not going to have enough to eat. In any way, he has the mind to become a champion. Morteza can be considered the best player on our team,” Rezaei said.
His record deserves that confidence as a two-time Paralympic champion in the sport and he is aiming to secure a hat-trick of gold medals in Paris. Iran won their first match against Brazil and face Germany on Tuesday.
In words
“This morning I was so present. I will return to the Seine, just to swim like Anne Hidalgo.” – France’s Jules Ribstein, after taking gold in PTS2 para triathlon, said he had no problem with the water quality. Concerns over the Seine in Paris had caused the postponement of the Para triathlon on Sunday. French mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine before the Olympics to prove it was clean.
In numbers
234 – Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal won Ireland’s 234th medal in Paralympics history. Ireland are 29th in the all-time medal table, USA have won 2,618.
