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New Zealand Takes First Paralympic Placing
When New Zealand athlete Matt Slade heard people yelling out "Kiwi" and "New Zealand", and then looked up and saw himself on the big screen, he thought something must be happening...
Something certainly was happening, for 26-year-old Slade, who has cerebral palsy, was leading the T37 200m in the Paralympic Games, a lead that was confirmed as victory by photo-finish in the slimmest of margins.
A native of Invercargill, New Zealand's southern most town, Slade had no idea he had won until he saw the race replay, but in the end his personal best equalling time of 24.85s was just enough to hold off Cheng Yang of China in 2nd, and 3rd placed 2000 gold-medal winner and arch-rival Algerian Mohamed Allek.
As winner of silver in the 200m and bronze in the 100m in Sydney, the sports diploma student can hardly be called a dark horse, and is now a definite medal favourite for the 100m final this weekend.
When telephoning his mother after the race, Slade himself, had only one thing to say.
"It was just awesome."
