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One final day

Paralympics come to a close in Sydney

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Cliff Chunn (left) and the Americans regained the lead late to take the gold over the hometown Aussies. AP

By Luba Vangelova, Special to CNNSI.com

Sunday evening was all about the closing ceremony party in the stadium. But the day was taken up with the last of the sporting contests.

The Paralympic Games competition calendar ended with the Star Spangled Banner playing to a packed house in the Dome, following the American wheelchair rugby team's 32-31 win over Australia. (New Zealand beat Canada to take the bronze).

The gold medal game had it all: spills; wheelies; penalty box stints; pit stops for wheel changes; crashes through barriers; and about 10,000 fans chanting "Aussie Aussie Aussie." The Australian players had all dyed their hair yellow for the occasion, and by the third quarter (most of which they spent up by three points) it looked as though their medals might end up matching their do's. But after a few key substitutions, the American team regained its form and also the lead, then played solid defense to prevent the Aussies from coming back.

One lesson from this close tournament, coach Reggie Richner said later, was that the U.S., though still unbeaten in international competitions, is "not the dominant country any more." The other countries, once accustomed to being steamrolled by the Americans, are now catching up. That means more great games should lie ahead for the fans.

Storylines

Earlier Sunday, the various marathon competitors (in eight wheelchair, vision-impaired and amputee classes) entered the stadium. Both T54-class wheelchair races featured close contests, with American Jean Driscoll winning the women's and Swiss Franz Nietlispach winning the men's. (In the men's contest, it was the race for silver that provided the drama, as fellow Swiss racer Heinz Frei, solidly in second place, momentarily lost control of his wheelchair in the final lap, just long enough to allow Krige Schabort to pass him). Nigerian Edith Nzuruike shattered the women's (wheelchair) javelin record by more than eight meters in a final day of field competition that saw four world records broken in five events. Coaches in the various sports say the bonanza of world records in Sydney is due partly to disabled athletes receiving better training.

Athlete of the hour

American Jean Driscoll, defending gold medalist of the women's wheelchair marathon, had picked up the flu that was going around the Paralympic Village. She woke up Sunday morning feeling bad enough to consider dropping out of the race. In the end, she decided it was "better to contend it and lose it out there, than not be in it at all." She ended up winning the gold medal in a very close race that saw the runner-up (Japan's Kazu Hatanaka) posting the same official time of 1:49:35.

Beauts

Spectators with day passes flooded into Olympic Park to take in as much as possible of the last day of the Games. Many spent the warm, sunny day picnicking or just milling around, absorbing the ambience. Those standing in line for venues were as patient as they've been throughout the Games.

Busts

Brian Frasure was expelled from the Games today after his latest drug tests (taken after placing second in the 200 meters) came back positive. He will relinquish that silver medal but keep the one from the 100 meters, because that earlier post-race drug test had come back negative. He said he'd inadvertently consumed anabolic steroids through the use of supplements. The Mongolians only fielded two athletes for these Games, one in archery and the other in the marathon. Today the marathoner, vision-impaired runner Lhkagvajav Jambal, was disqualified at the last possible moment when his guide crossed the finish line just ahead of him. The guide, Australian Commonwealth Games gold medalist Heather Turland, had just last week volunteered for the role after Jambal's original guide was deemed too slow.

 

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