Storey grabs record 18th gold, Aldeeb aims to be Palestinian voice

Sarah Storey clinched her 18th Paralympic Gold with a victory in the women's C5 time trial, extending her medal tally to 29.

The 46-year-old Storey became Britain's most successful Paralympian, winning 13 gold medals in cycling, and five in swimming. She overtook swimmer Mike Kenny's record of 16 Paralympic golds in Tokyo.

Storey completed the course in 20 minutes and 22.15 seconds, beating France’s Heidi Gaugain by more than four seconds. "I’m very happy. I am over the moon. But I know that there’s always ways to improve things," she said.

This is the shortest Paralympic time trial we’ve ever had and I think it’s a real shame because you don’t get to showcase parasport in the way that you want to."Of 29 Paralympic medals won by Storey, 16 were won in swimming between 1992-2004.

Leanne Smith’s determination

Meanwhile USA’s Leanne Smith, who suffered a partial lung collapse in 2022, bagged a gold in the 100m freestyle S3 swimming category. When Leanne Smith suffered a partially collapsed lung in June 2022, the idea of winning a Paralympics swimming gold medal, let alone returning to the pool one day, seemed impossible.

However, on Tuesday, the 36-year-old American did just that. She went one better than at the Tokyo Games three years ago to clinch the 100m freestyle S3, the category for swimmers without use of trunk or legs and partial functioning of their arms and hands.

"If you would have told me I would be a gold medalist in this race 18 months ago when I was just getting back into the water, I would have told you you were crazy," a grinning Smith told AFP.

"It's just another testament to the inner determination I have and people placing limitations and then me just saying, 'OK, well, just watch me, I'll make it back,'" she added.

Months before the setback of the vicious respiratory infection which led to her spending two months in hospital, Smith was on cloud nine having just claimed seven gold medals at the world championships in Portugal. The success was just a decade after being diagnosed with dystonia, a progressive disease which affects all four of her limbs, her vocal cords and her trunk.

I'm here for 11 million people, says Palestine’s Aldeeb

Fadi Aldeeb, who is the only Palestinian athlete at the Paris Paralympics, is the voice of his people at the Paralympics. He left the Gaza Strip a decade ago for a wheelchair basketball career that took him to Turkey and Greece before France.

The 40-year-old became paraplegic after being shot in the back by an Israeli soldier in 2001 during the second Intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation.

He is feeling the pressure of being what he says is the voice of his people at the Paralympics. Nine months ago, he missed several calls from his brother. The next day, he found out that he had been killed in an Israeli attack on his home.

Palestine's Fadi Aldeeb speaks during an interview outside the Paralympic village in Saint-Denis, FranceReuters

"On December 6, I had a French league game and when I was finished, I found my brother had called me many times... I tried to call back but there was no connection," Aldeeb, who took part in the Paralympics shot put, told Reuters."

The 7th of December at night I received (the news) that 'Okay, your brother was killed in an attack on our building'," said Aldeeb, adding that he often wonders what his brother's last message was.

"It's too many feelings, too much responsibility, because I'm not speaking about myself, I'm not playing for myself. I'm here for 11 million, for all who say I'm a Palestinian, for all who talk about humanity, and to talk about the freedom of Palestine," he said.

Aldeeb, who will resume playing wheelchair basketball in the Paris suburb of Genevilliers after the Paralympics, sees Israel's military as a "killing machine".

"When we are raising the flag here in Paris, we are (showing we are) still alive, we still need our human rights, we still need our freedom," he said.

But welcoming support he had received from other competitors, he said: "I'm not feeling that I'm alone or feeling like I'm alone, these people really, it's amazing and incredible, they give me a feeling of humanity."