The runner Sherman Guity achieved the first gold medal of Costa Rica in the Paralympic Games, by winning this Saturday in the 200 meter test of the Tokyo 2020 athletics, in the T64 category.
I won the gold! The road has not been easy, but I made it, I was able to fulfill my dream and the promise I made after my accident, thanks for the support to all the people who were with me! “, He published on the social network Facebook shortly after getting on. to the podium.
The para-athlete, who lost a large part of his left leg in a road accident four years ago, set a time of 21 seconds and 43 hundredths and flew over the Olympic stadium track to also break, for the second consecutive test, the record of these jousts . He was 0.16 hundredths of a second from the world record.
In the final, the second place went to the German Felix Streng (21.78) and the third to the American Jarryd Wallace (22.09). Guity was more than a second apart from the remaining five competitors.
“I’m going to do everything possible to get back on track and I’m going to be the best Paralympic athlete,” he had said from his hospital bed just a few days after the mishap that cost him his leg, in a video that was circulated by the media. local communication at that time and again went viral this morning.
Category T64 corresponds to athletes with lower limb amputees below the knee.
The 24-year-old Costa Rican, a native of the Caribbean province of Limón, competed in traditional athletics, being one of the main sports promises of his country, until on Friday, August 25, 2017, he collided with a bus, compromising his lower limb.
At the hospital, it was decided to amputate his leg below his knee, to give him the opportunity to run with a prosthesis.
Guity had already obtained a silver medal in the 100-meter dash last Monday, an also unprecedented event for the Central American country.
Costa Rica had only won four medals in traditional Olympic Games throughout its history, all the product of the efforts of the swimmers Claudia Poll, who won gold in Atlanta-1996 and two bronzes in Sydney-2000, and her sister Sylvia, who made silver in Seoul-1988.
Guity’s triumph is being widely celebrated by the Costa Rican people and even the country’s president, Carlos Alvarado, dedicated a few words to him on social media.
«It fills us with deep pride and satisfaction to see you with the Costa Rican flag. We are waiting for you with your two Paralympic medals! (…) You are great Sherman, you are great ”, stated the president.
According to his communication team, Guity will arrive in the country until September 9, as he will attend a training camp that he had already planned after his participation in Tokyo-2020. (AFP)
Costa Rican runner makes history by winning first gold in Paralympic Games
