PARIS, 4 Sep. (by EUROPA PRESS special correspondent Ramón Chamorro) –
The Spanish Paralympic Team has now passed the halfway point of the Paris Games, which conclude this coming Sunday, September 8, and at the moment the sensations at a sporting level are quite good with more than 20 medals already won, 25, and close to the ‘Top 10’ of the general medal table.
The national team’s sporting objective before travelling to the French capital was to surpass the 36 medals won three years ago in Tokyo and, after six days of competition and with five still to go, it seems closer due to the good results, which have been above the disappointments. The Spanish team, which at this point three years ago has 20 medals, is eleventh in the medal table, but is ninth in medals won and sixth in Europe.
For now, Spain closed the sixth day of competition in Paris 2024 with three new medals thanks to the silver medals of swimmers Nuria Marquès and Marta Fernández and athlete David José Pineda on a day where the solid options of Adi Iglesias (100 m T13 where she was the current champion) and the Spanish wheelchair basketball team, eliminated in the quarter-finals by Germany (49-57), also slipped away.
But joy is the predominant note, although Spain is still struggling to add the golds that would elevate it in the medal table. So far, the champions of these Games have been Yassine Ouhdadi (5,000 m T13), Anastasiya Dmytriv (100 breaststroke SB8), Íñigo Llopis (100 backstroke S8), and Susana Rodríguez and Dani Molina in triathlon.
Of all of them, Ouhdadi and Rodríguez have been able to repeat their titles from three years ago, something that neither Alfonso Cabello, bronze in the kilometre time trial, nor the aforementioned Iglesias nor the thrower Kim López, who were left off the podium, were able to achieve. Without Gerard Descarrega, injured, nor Michelle Alonso, retired, the cyclist Sergio Garrote (time trial) and the swimmer Marta Fernández (50 breaststroke SB3) still have that mission.
So far, as usual, swimming has been the most popular event, with 11 medals, including the gold of the 16-year-old ‘Tasy’ Dymitriv and the bronze of the award-winning Teresa Perales in the 50m backstroke S2, which allows her to equal Michael Phelps’ 28 Olympic medals. Only Marta Fernández has managed to win two medals in individual events, silver in the 100m freestyle S3 and bronze in the 50m backstroke S3.
Triathlon, as in Tokyo, once again shone with the same medals as three years ago, with the silver of Marta Francés (PTS4) and the bronze of Nil Riudavets (PTS4) joining the golds of Rodríguez and Molina, while athletics has shone in the competitions for people with visual disabilities, where it has won four medals, three in long distance (Sara Martínez – silver -, Alba García and Joan Munar – bronze -), of the six in total for this sport.
Track cycling has improved its numbers compared to Tokyo 2020 with three medals (bronze for Alfonso Cabello, Ricardo Ten and the sprint team), one more than in Tokyo, while the other sport that has added is shooting with bronze Juan Antonio Saavedra in R3 10m prone rifle mixed SH1.
And now the goal could be to try to break the barrier of 40 medals, which has not been achieved since London 2012 when 42 were won, and also to increase the number of golds. To do so, Spain still has many options, mainly in the pool where there are still good chances to swim, such as Marta Fernández, who has two events left, Sarai Gascón, Nahia Zudaire or Toni Ponce.
In athletics there are also options such as Adi Iglesias in the 400 metres, Héctor Cabrera in javelin or the marathon, and table tennis with class 9 competitors Jorge Cardona and Ander Cepas, and also wheelchair tennis with Martín de la Puente and doubles with Dani Caverzaschi. The judokas (Sergio Ibáñez, Daniel Gavilán, Marta Arce and María Manzanero), Juan Antonio Saavedra, who has yet to compete in his best competition, Judith Rodríguez, who is making the return of fencing, and canoeing will try to do their bit.