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Paris 2024 review: Icons, new stars and fans elevate Para swimming to new levels
A passionate and knowledgeable crowd provides the perfect stage to extraordinary performances from the likes of Ugo Didier, Jessica Long, Simone Barlaam and Guo Jincheng during ten days of the Paralympic Games at Paris La Defense Arena 10 Sep 2024
Ugo Didier set the tone in the first of the Paris 2024 Para swimming finals to the delight of 14,000 fans inside Paris La Defense Arena.
“I don't think I could have done it without the crowd,” the tearful Frenchman said after powering to victory in the men’s 400m freestyle S9 (he also grabbed two silver medals at the Games). “I don't know if I make the crowd proud, but they make me proud.”
It was Jessica Long, who won her 17th and 18th Paralympic titles at her sixth Games, who summed up just what it meant to swim in front of full stands.
“I was 12 at my first Paralympics (in Athens in 2004) and the first thing I noticed was the Paralympics needed to grow because a lot of people didn’t understand how incredible the Paralympic Movement was,” the US swimmer said. “The fact that people are showing up for the Paralympic Movement is what we need, it’s everything to me.
"It has been the most incredible crowd I've ever swum in front of."
While Long continued to grab the headlines, and the medal success of 33 nations showed just how far Para swimming has come, it was China who topped the table for the fourth Games in a row.
‘The Flying Fish’ Jiang Yuyan led the way with seven golds - declaring the Games a “perfect experience” - closely followed by her compatriot Guo Jincheng. The 23-year-old armless swimmer took four golds and two silvers on his Paralympic debut, all while wearing pink swim shorts and without wearing goggles or a swim hat.
But even China’s top performers could not match the perfect record of Ihar Boki. Five races, five gold medals for the now 21-time Paralympic champion. “I am glad I am still the best,” he said.
Italy won the last event of all, the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay 34 points, to finish third in the medal table behind China and Great Britain. Among the victorious quartet was Simone Barlaam, who won one of his three gold medals in front of the Parisian doctor who had saved his leg 14 years ago.
As Long, who is hoping to compete in her seventh Games in four years’ time in Los Angeles, said: “I think LA has some pretty big shoes to fill, pretty big prosthetic legs to fill.”
Quote of the Games
"I called (my coach) and I was like, 'I am going to have to retire, I am not getting back down to my times, I am like 20 seconds off in a 100m'. It turns out I was swimming in a 33m pool, not a 25m pool and I hadn't realised."
Alice Tai (Great Britain), who claimed five medals at Paris 2024, including two golds, reveals she nearly retired after struggling to match her times after having her leg amputated below the knee, only to discover the pool was a good deal bigger than she thought.
For more about Para swimming at Paris 2024 and all medallists check the daily reviews from La Defese Arena below:
