REMARKABLE EVOLUTION OF BLIND SPORTS

Javier Merchán

The latest Paralympic Games in Atlanta have once again demonstrated the spectacular progress being made by visually impaired athletes. In sports such as ATHLETICS and SWIMMING, the evolution is clearly evidenced both by the number of records broken and by the number of competitors, greatly increased in these two sports as well as in others such as JUDO. Proof of this was the full house, for example, in the ATLANTA METRO COLLEGE which was sold out for the three days of the competition.

GOALBALL has been really well received by the American spectators and the level of play has improved significantly. Also worthy of note is the inclusion of new sports for the blind such as equestrianism, in which the blind compete together with other disability groups, and LAWN BOWLING, a predominantly Anglo-Saxon sport.

The most impressive blind sports delegation in ATLANTA was the Spanish, followed by the UNITED STATES, GREAT BRITAIN, AUSTRALIA, GERMANY and CANADA. Australia proved to be the great revelation of these Games, occupying first place in the overall medal table for several days. The Spanish team was one of the largest with 78 participants, followed by the host team, United States with 53.

EVENTS

Spain established itself as the top sprinting nation, both for men and women, sweeping the board in the star events of 100, 200, 4 x 100 and 4 x 400m. The veteran female sprinter, Purificación Santamarta, won many hearts and medals, as well as setting three new 100 and 200-meter records.

As for our next-door neighbours on the Iberian peninsula, the Portuguese, they dominated the middle-distance events in the B1 category with COELHO leading the way, whilst the Briton NOEL TATCHER clearly asserted himself in the B2 long-distance category. Nor can we forget the Latin Americans, one of whom, the Panamanian SAID GóMEZ, was the star in the B3 long-distance category. In the so-called lesser THROWING EVENTS and the PENTATHLON, the Spanish and the East European athletes shared the honours. Alfonso Fidalgo (SPAIN, B1) was the most outstanding in the shot and discus events with two gold medals and two world records, and BAITAO (China) stood out in B3.

The Spaniard JOSÉ MANUEL RODRíGUEZ (B1) topped the podium in the triple and long jump events. Other athletes worthy of note included ALDO MANGANARO (ITALY), PYCH (POLAND), BOZZOLO (FRANCE), MATHEWS (GREAT BRITAIN), BATALOVA and RUNYAN (RUSSIA) and LJUBISIC (CANADA). Between them, they set a total of 14 World and 21 Paralympic records.

SOUTH AMERICA STRENGTHENED

South American athletics are coming on strong with athletes such as the Brazilian girls SANTOS and ALVES challenging the supremacy of the Europeans. ROBERT JIMÉNEZ (Dominican Rep.) also reached new heights, achieving a magnificent gold medal in the 200 metres B2, and the Cuban girl BELISER was the queen of the throwing events. MEXICO did really well in both the 5,000 and 10,000m. thanks to ALEJANDRO GUERRERO. PANAMA and URUGUAY had only one participant in their delegations and yet they came away with medals. SAID GóMEZ (Panama) won two golds (in 5,000 and 1,500m.) and beat a Paralympic as well as a World record. As for Uruguay, JORGE LLERENA obtained the bronze in the 200 metres B1 category.

The representation from Africa, whilst rather limited in these PARALYMPIC GAMES was, nevertheless, greater than in BARCELONA, both in terms of athletes and delegations. Apart from habitual participants such as ALGERIA and SOUTH AFRICA, we also saw blind athletes from ANGOLA, CôTE d'IVOIRE, BURKINA FASO, KENYA and MAURITIUS.

Among the exclusively blind sports, mention must be given to Judo, dominated by the Japanese, and GOALBALL with the Finns and the Germans up front. The silver medals in this event went to the Canadian men and the Finnish women. The bronze was won by SPAIN and the UNITED STATES respectively. Top scorers were MARIO CARON (Canada) and JORDI MENDOZA (Spain) with 23 goals each. The top female scorer was BEGOÑA REDAL with a grand total of 17.

TANDEM cycling has grown from the 3 events disputed in Barcelona to 11 in this edition. Greater protagonism was given to the women cyclists on this occasion, with the Australians and Canadians proving most outstanding.

The vast majority of the participants in Lawn Bowling were from Canada and Great Britain, with the latter running off with 5 of the 6 medals in the B2 and B3 categories, whilst in the totally blind class the South African DEIRDRE BULER and the Canadian LANCE McDONALD won the gold.

Taking a look now at the swimming events, we witnessed 18 World and 21 Paralympic records tumble in the pool at GEORGIA TECH AQUATIC CENTER. Nor do we need to remind you that the swimmer with most awards, most applause and who provoked more than one tear to be shed and quite a few thrills, was the American, TRISCHA ZORN who came away with no less than 5 medals. Not to be outdone was the German girl HOPF, who proved herself to be a worthy challenger.