2008 Paralympic Games of Beijing

• Current Competition Recap
• Pictures from Beijing
• Medal Count

Competition Recap

Final Report

As the 4,000 athletes and their coaches make their way back home from Beijing, each one can take with them the satisfaction of not only making their respective Paralympic teams but also for competing with great honor on the world’s largest and greatest stage for elite disabled athletes.

For some of these participants they leave this ancient city knowing they did their best and represented their countries with great distinction.  For other athletes, their suitcases will be stuffed with memorabilia from China and the Paralympic games.  And still others will have to find a little extra room for the medals they accumulated.

A total of 1,432 medals were awarded in the 21 sports competed during the 11 days of competition.  76 different countries had at least one athlete represent their nation on the medal podium.  As expected there were numerous athletes who made that trip to the Victory Ceremony more than once.

The following is a list of U.S.A. team members who are heading home with at least three medals from these games.

Athlete	Sport	Medals
Erin Popovich (Silverbow, MT )	Swimming	4 Gold 2 Silver
Jessica Long (Colorado Springs, CO)	Swimming	4 Gold 1 Silver 1 Bronze
Courtney Jordon (Colorado Springs, CO)	Swimming	1 Gold 2 Silver 1 Bronze
Jessica Galli (Hillsborough, NJ)	Athletics	1 Gold 4 Silver 1 Bronze
Lantz Lamback (Colorado Springs, CO)	Swimming	1 Gold 4 Silver 1 Bronze
Jennifer Schuble (Houston, TX)	Cycling	1 Gold 2 Silver
Jim Bob Bizzell (Odessa, TX)	Athletics	1 Gold 2 Silver
Amanda McGrory (Kennett Square, PA)	Athletics	1 Gold 1 Silver 2 Bronze
Karrissa Whitsell (Eugene, OR )	Cycling	1 Gold 1 Silver 1 Bronze
Kelly Becherer (Colorado Springs, CO)	Swimming	1 Gold 2 Bronze
Tatyana McFadden (Clarksville, MD)	Athletics	3 Silver 1 Bronze
Amanda Everlove (Colorado Springs, CO)	Swimming	3 Silver

IPC President Sir Phillip Craven invited the Paralympic athletes of the world to meet again in four years time for the 14th Summer Paralympic Games of London in 2012.  More than 4,200 athletes are expected to compete in the country where the Paralympic games movement was born in 1948.

The next Winter Paralympic Games will be held in Vancouver, Canada in February of 2010.     

Day Twelve

The 13th Paralympic Summer games of Beijing have come to an end.

“These are the greatest Paralympic Games ever.”  With those words, Sir Phillip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee, officially closed the Beijing Games.

• In the 12 days of competition more than 4,000 athletes from 147 countries set 279 World records and 339 Paralympic records.  More than 5,500 media credentials were issued, internet and television coverage worldwide reached more viewers than ever before, and nearly a million spectators at the 16 different competition venues were treated to what was indeed the greatest Summer Paralympic Games ever staged.
• The Closing Ceremonies concluded the games in the Birdsnest with Melissa Stockwell (Minneapolis, MN) carrying the American flag into the stadium.  Stockwell, who lost her leg to a roadside bomb while serving in Iraq, is the first veteran injured in that conflict to compete on the U.S. Paralympic Swim team. She was nominated by the U.S. Paralympic volleyball team and selected in a vote by all 235 members of the U.S. delegation.
• While the U.S. did finish in third place in the overall medal standings, the Americans once again solidified their position as one of the top disabled sport nations in the world.
• The U.S. did pick up one more medal on the final day of competition.  Amanda McGrory (Kennett Square, PA) was just one second behind in the Women’s T-54 wheelchair Marathon and took the silver, her fourth medal of the games.  Cheri Blauwet (San Francisco, CA) finished fourth a mere four seconds off the lead.  The top five racers were all within five seconds of each other.
  
  • And in the Men’s T-54 wheelchair Marathon Josh George (Fairfax, VR) Finished 17th.

91,000 spectators again jammed the Birdsnest to witness the Closing Ceremonies and the transfer of the IPC Flag from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London where the 14th Summer Paralympic Games will take place in 2012.

• The U.S. medal tally by competition:

  Sport	Medals
  Archery	2 Bronze
  Athletics	9 Gold 14 Silver 5 Bronze
  Cycling	5 Gold 5 Silver 4 Bronze
  GoalBall	Gold (Women)
  Wheelchair Rugby	Gold (Men)
  Wheelchair Basketball	Gold (Women)
  Judo	Bronze
  Rowing	1 Silver 1 Bronze
  Sailing	1 Gold 1 Bronze
  Sit Volleyball	Gold (Women)
  Swimming	17 Gold 14 Silver 13 Bronze
  Wheelchair Tennis	1 Gold 1 Bronze

Day Eleven

The race for second place in the overall medal count heats up and in Wheelchair Rugby: Mission Accomplished!

• Wheelchair Rugby
  

  • The U.S. men’s Wheelchair Rugby team was finally able to erase the bad memory of their Bronze medal finish at the Athens Paralympic Games four years ago by taking the Gold tonight, beating Australia 53-44.  Holding onto a slim one goal lead at halftime the men outscored the Aussies by four in the third period and never looked back. Once again it was Will Groulx (Birmingham, AL) leading the way in scoring with 16 and Captain Byran Kirkland (Birmingham, AL) added 10 goals.  Canada captured the Bronze Medal, defeating Great Britain 47-41.

• Wheelchair Basketball
  

  • The Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team did not fare as well.  Facing a hot shooting Great Britain squad, the men fell in the Bronze medal game 85-77.  In front of a sold-out crowd of 12,000 at the National Indoor Stadium, the Brits shot a sizzling 56% from the floor and withstood every comeback attempt by the Americans.  Joe Chambers (Whitewater, WI) led the scoring for the U.S. with 25 points.  Australia won the Gold medal, defeating Canada 72-60.

• Track & Field
  

  The only other action on the next to last day of competition was inside the Birdsnest where the Americans captured five more medals.

  • Josh George (Fairfax, VA) won his first gold medal of the games taking the Men’s 100m T-53 wheelchair race with a time of 14.79 setting a new Paralympic record in the process.
    Despite breaking the world record in the Men’s 400m T-44 event, Jim Bob Bizzell (Odessa, TX) had to settle for the silver medal as Oscar Pistorius of South Africa won his third gold of these games with a time of 47.49.  Bizzell finished at 50.98.Bizzell then came back and captured his own gold medal as part of the Men’s 4x100 Relay T-42/46. 
    He was joined by Brian Frasure (Maiden, NC), Jerome Singleton (Greenwood, SC) and Casey Tibbs (San Diego, CA).  In the process the quartet set a new World record with a time of 42.75.
    Tibbs also won an individual silver medal with his second place finish in the Men’s Long Jump T\F 42/44.

  • And the Women’s 4x100 relay T-53/54 won the bronze medal in that event.  Tatyana McFadden (Clarksville, MD) Jessica Galli (Hillsborough, NJ), Anjali Forber Pratt (Natick, MA) and Amanda McGrory (Kennett Square, PA) posted a time of 1:02:16.

• The last four events of these Beijing Paralympic games come tomorrow with the running of five different classifications in the Marathon.  A total of six U.S. athletes will be vying for those all-important last medals.

• The 13th Summer Paralympic Games will then officially come to an end with the Closing Ceremonies tomorrow night.  Another sell out crowd of 91,000 is expected to be on hand bid farewell to these amazing athletes in the Birdsnest.  
  

Day Ten

The U.S. makes its way closer to second place in the overall medal count, trailing Great Britain by just 4 medals with two days of competition left.

• Wheelchair Basketball
  The Women’s wheelchair basketball team defends their gold medal.

  • Christina Ripp (Champaign, IL) had 16 points and Carlee Hoffman (Birmingham, AL) added 10 and a stifling defense forced 19 turnovers as the Women defeated Germany in the Women’s Wheelchair basketball finals 50-38.  With just under three minutes to go in the first half, the US took the lead for the first time and never looked back.  It is the second straight Gold medal for the women who placed first at the 2004 Paralympic Games of Athens.

• Wheelchair Rugby
  

  • The Men’s Wheelchair Rugby team punched their ticket to the gold medal game by defeating Great Britain in the semi finals 35-32.  Will Groulx (Birmingham, AL) once again led the U.S. with 13 goals while Captain Bryan Kirkland (Hoover, AL) and Andy Cohen (Birmingham, AL) each scored five times.  The men will face Australia, who had to go into overtime to beat Canada 41-40, for the Gold medal tonight at 8:00 p.m.

• Swimming
  

  Today was the last day of competition for swimming in the watercube and the U.S. team added another four medals.

  • Cheryl Angelli (Colorado Springs, CO) picked up her second silver medal by finishing second in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S-4.  Kelly Becherer (Colorado Springs, CO) won her third medal and her first gold in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S-13,. 

  • The U.S. put two women on the podium in the 400m Freestyle S-10. Ashley Owens  (Colorado Springs, CO) added a silver medal to her two bronze medals and teammate Susan Beth Scott (Colorado Springs, CO) won the bronze, her first medal of the games.

• Track & Field
  At the Birdsnest...
  • The U.S. team added another seven medals in Athletics. Peter Gottwald (Westchester, PA) won his first medal of the games when he finished second in the Men’s 800m T-13 race.  Josh George (Fairfax, VA) also won his first medal of these games, a silver, in the Men’s 800m T-53 event.
  • In the women’s 800m T-53 wheelchair event, Jessica Galli (Hillsborough, NJ) and Chinese athlete Hongzhuan Zhou both finished with a time of 1:57:25.  But the gold was awarded to Zhou in a photo finish.  Amanda McGrory (Kennett Square, PA) was third while Cheri Blauwet (San Francisco, CA) was fourth.
    
  • Lex Gillette (Raleigh, NC) won his first medal, a silver, in the Visually Impaired Long jump competition.  And Jeremy Campbell (Perryton, TX) won his second gold of the games.  Tonight he took first place in the Discus.

Day Nine

Only three days of competition remain at the 2008 Paralympic Games of Beijing and the team sports are starting to hand out their medals.

• Track & Field
  Day 9 saw a gold medal for a track star that is long overdue.
  • April Holmes, despite being a world record holder and national champion, did not have a Paralympic gold medal to put on her mantle.  Until now. Holmes (Somerdale, NJ) grabbed the top spot on the podium with a win in the Women’s 100m T-44 race at the Birdsnest.  Her time of 13.72 seconds comes after her disqualification for falling into another lane in the Women’s 200m earlier in the track competition.
  • Tatyana McFadden (Clarksville, MD) had two races today and won silver in both.  She took second lace in both the women’s 200m T-54 and Women’s 800m T-54 competitions.  That brings her Paralympic Games medal count to three silvers.
  • And in the field events Jeff Skiba (Sammamish, WA) won the gold medal in the Men’s High Jump F 44/46 event.  Skiba cleared the bar at 6’ 9”.  This gold goes right along side the silver medal he won in the Modern Pentathlon.
• Swimming
  At the Watercube the U.S. Swim team added four more medals to their ever growing tally.
  
  • For the first time in these games, Courtney Jordan (Colorado Springs, CO) was able to beat her teammate Erin Popovich (Silverbow, MT).  The gold medal for Jordan came in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S-7 as she touched the wall a mere .08 hundredths of a second before Popovich. It is the fourth medal of the games for Jordan who also has two silvers and a bronze.  It is the second silver medal for Popovich to go along with her four gold medals.
  • Lantz Lamback (Colorado Springs, CO) also won his fourth medal of the Paralympic Games as he took the bronze in the Men’s 50m Freestyle S-7.  Lamback also has a gold and two silvers.
  • And Amanda Everlove (Colorado Springs, CO) won her third silver medal with a second place finish in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S-8 race.
  • And on the final day of cycling competition at the Ming Tomb Reservoir, the tandem of Karrisa Whitsell (Eugene, OR) and her pilot MacKenzie Wooding (Grand Rapids, MI) won the silver medal in the Women’s Individual Road Race, Visually Impaired division.  The set is now complete for these riders as they have a gold, silver and bronze medals.
• Hand Cycle
  In the Hand Cycle event, two Americans made it to the podium.
  • Alejandro Albor (Lake Grove, CA won the silver, his second medal of the games.
  • Teammate Oz Sanchez (San Diego, CA) took the bronze, also his second medal here in Beijing.
• Team Sports: Sit Volleyball & Goalball
  Two Team sports awarded its gold medals and the U.S. went one for two.
  • In Sit volleyball, the U.S. Women fell to China in the gold medal match in three straight sets and had to settle for the silver.  In 5 games during the competition, the women of China won all 5 of their contests without losing a single set.  The U.S. women improved on their bronze medal finish in Athens back in 2004. 
  • The Women’s Goalball team had to play two contests today.  In the semi-final match the U.S. defeated Denmark 4-3 and then exacted a bit of revenge by winning the Gold medal match vs. China   6-5.
  • The Men’s Goalball team saw their impossible dream come to an end when they lost in the bronze medal match to Sweden 5-2.  China was the eventual gold medal winner.
• Wheelchair Basketball
  
  • In the Wheelchair basketball semi-finals, the U.S. men went into double overtime before bowing to Canada 69-62.  The game was tied after regulation at 49, then tied again at the end of the first overtime 57-57.  The Canadians finally pulled away in the second extra stanza to head to Tuesday night’s Gold medal matchup with Australia.  The U.S. Men will have a chance for the bronze medal when they meet Great Britain Tuesday night at the National Indoor Stadium.
  • The U.S. Women look to defend their Athens gold medal in Wheelchair Basketball Monday night vs. Germany in another sold out event at the National Indoor Stadium.
• Wheelchair Rugby
  The U.S. Men’s Wheelchair Rugby team finished pool play and advanced to the semi-finals with a 37-32 win over their ach rival Canada. 
  • Once again Will Groulx (Birmingham, AL) led the way for the U.S. with seven goals.  Joel Wilmouth (Birmingham, AL) also scored seven times.  The semi-finals begin Monday evening and feature the U.S., Canada, Australia and Great Britain.  The Goal medal game is slated for Tuesday at 8:00 p.m.

Day Eight

As the 2008 Paralympic Games slowly make its way to the Closing ceremonies on Wednesday, more medals are handed out in the watercube and the team sports are finalizing gold medal matches.

• Swimming
  The U.S. Swim team added four more medals to their total today but one was a huge surprise. Erin Popovich (Silverbow, MT) lost her bid for seven gold medals at these games when she was beaten in the Women’s 50m Butterfly S-9.  Popovich, who had to settle for her first silver to go along with her four gold medals, was beaten by China’s Ming Hu by nearly four seconds.  Popovich still has two more races to add to her Paralympic Games total.
  • However, Justin Zook (Colorado Springs, CO) did come up with a gold, his first in these games, in the Men’s 100m Backstroke S-10.
  • Jarrett Perry (Colorado Springs, CO) was the bronze medal winner in the Men’s 100m Backstroke S-9. 
  • And Elizabeth Stone (Colorado Springs, CO) captured her first medal of the games, a sliver, in the Women’s 100m Backstroke S-9.
• Track & Field
  
  • At the Bird's Nest, the U.S. had one athlete make the podium. Jim Bob Bizzell (Odessa, TX) was second to Oscar Pistorius of South Africa in the Men’s 200m T-44.
  • In the Men’s 200m T-53 event Josh George (Fairfax, VA) finished just off the podium in 4th place.
• Sailing
  
  • The U.S. added one more gold medal to its overall count, this one coming in sailing.  The team of Nick Scandone (Santa Monica, CA) and Maureen Tucker-McKinnon (Santa Monica, CA) were first today in the Two-Person Keelboat race.
• Cycling
  
  • Ron Williams (Birmingham, AL) was in the top 30 at today’s 72.6 km road race at the Ming Tombs Reservoir course.  Williams managed a 25th place finish in the LC2 category.
• Wheelchair Basketball
  
  • In Women’s wheelchair basketball, the gold medal matchup has been set.  The U.S. will have the chance to defend their gold medal from Athens after defeating Australia in the semi’s 60-47.  Christina Ripp (Champaign, IL) led all scorers with 18 and Stephanie “The Intimidator” Wheeler ( Tuscaloosa, AL) added 15.  The U.S. will meet Germany for the gold medal Monday evening at the National Indoor Stadium.
  • The Men’s wheelchair basketball team advanced to the semi-finals and didn’t even break a sweat.  Their opponent, Iran, forfeited the game after withdrawing from the competition due to dissatisfaction with the draw.  The U.S. will play their arch rival Canada in the semi’s Sunday night. 
• Goalball
  
  • The U.S. Men’s Goalball team saw their dream of winning the gold medal come to an end tonight.  The U.S. was defeated by China 4-0 after an impressive and improbable run to the semis.  The U.S. will take on Sweden Sunday night in the Bronze medal match.
  • The Women’s Goalball team punched their ticket to the semi-finals with a 7-4 win over Sweden.  The women will have two matches tomorrow to determine the goal medal winner.  China, Denmark and Japan also advanced to the semis.
• Rugby
  
  • The U.S. Wheelchair Rugby team picked up its second straight victory of the competition with a 44-37 win over Japan.  Will Groulx (Birmingham, AL) again led the U.S. in scoring with 12 goals while Brian Kirkland (Birmingham, AL) added 11 goals.
    Next up for the Men will be the highly anticipated match with Canada. Both teams come into this matchup with perfect 2-0 records.

Day Seven

• Add another 12 medals to the U.S. tally after Day 7 of the 2008 Paralympic Games of Beijing and the Men’s wheelchair Rugby team gets competition underway, in a big way.
  • After waiting nearly a week for competition to begin, the U.S. Men’s wheelchair rugby team got things off to a roaring start. In a sport where the margin of victory is usually two or three goals at most, the men blasted China 65 to 30. Will Groulx (Birmingham, AL) had 16 goals, Chance Sumner (Birmingham, AL) added 12 goals and Mark Zupan (Austin, TX) contributed 11 goals. The team continues play on Saturday vs. Japan.
• The Cycling events took to the road course today and the U.S. team grabbed seven medals during the Individual Time trials which was a 28.4 mile trip around the Mings Tomb Reservoir.
  • On the men’s side, Oz Sanchez (San Diego, CA) took gold in the HC-C category while teammate Alejandro Albor (Lake Grove, CA) was third. In the LC-4 race Anthony Zahn (Riverside, CA) won the bronze medal.
  • For the women, the U.S. put two athletes on the podium in the LC-3 race. Barbara Buchan (Boise, ID) won her second gold medal of these games while Allison Jones (Denver, CO) won the silver. Jennifer Schuble (Houston, TX) picked up her third overall medal with silver in today’s LC-1 competition. And in the visual impaired tandem race Karrissa Whitesell (Eugene, OR) and her pilot Mackenzie Woodring (Grand Rapids, MI) were the gold medal winners.
  • In the LC 2 class Ron Williams (Birmingham, AL) finished in fifth position.
• The U.S Track team continued their rebound by adding three more medals during today’s competition in the Birdsnest.
  • Jessica Galli (Hillsborough, NJ) was the silver medalist in the Women’s 100m T-53 race. In the women’s 400m T-54 event Tatyana McFadden (Clarksville, MD) won her first medal of the games, a silver. After this week’s crash in the women’s 5000m T-54 race officials decided to re-run that event today. Good thing for Amanda McGrory (Kennett Square, PA) as she won the gold medal. Cheri Blauwet (San Francisco, CA) finished in fourth place.
• And the U.S. grabbed another two medals in swimming at the watercube. Jessica Long (Colorado Springs, CO) took gold in the women’s 400m Freestyle S-8. It is the fourth gold medal for Long and her sixth overall at these Paralympic Games. And Deborah Gruen (Colorado Springs, CO) was the bronze medal winner in the women’s 100m breastroke SB-8.
• The Women’s sit volleyball team continues to surprise the field with a semi-final win today, a three set to two victory over The Netherlands. That means the U.S. Team will be playing for the gold medal vs. host China on Sunday.
• The Men’s Goalball team is also doing a fine impression of the Upset King as they beat Slovenia in the quarterfinals 4-2. The men advance to tomorrow’s semi-final vs. Sweden. And the women’s Goalball team played Canada to a 1-1 tie in pool play. The women have another match tomorrow, also vs. Sweden.
• The Women’s U.S. wheelchair basketball team are now just two wins away from defending their gold medal from Athens. The U.S. beat China 75-31 behind Lorraine Gonzales’ (Birmingham, AL) 21 points and Jenn Ruddell’s (Champaign, IL) 16. The women will now play Canada on Saturday in one semi-final and that winner will take on the winner of Germany/Japan for the gold medal.
• The Men’s wheelchair basketball team start their quarterfinal action on Saturday vs. Iran. The other quarterfinal matchups feature Germany vs. Great Britain, Australia vs. Japan and Canada vs. Israel.

Day Six

• Erin Popovich (Silverbow, MT) is now four for four, and the Men’s and Women’s Wheelchair basketball teams head to the medal round. Popovich continued her winning ways tonight at the watercube by taking her fourth gold medal of the games. Tonight Popovich set another world record in the Women’s 400m Freestyle S7. Teammate Courtney Jordan (Colorado Springs, CO) took the silver. Popovich has three races remaining to try and duplicate her seven gold medal performance in Athens.
• Jessica Long (Baltimore, MD) also continued her impressive medal tally by winning her third gold medal and fifth overall medal. Tonight’s first place finish came in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM8 in world record time.
• Lantz Lamback (Augusta, GA) added a silver medal for the Americans in the Men’s 400m Freestyle S7.
• On the track at the Birdsnest, Jeremy Campbell (Perryton, TX) won the Modern Pentathlon event with a world record point total of 4,662. His teammate Jeff Skiba (Sammamish, WA) was the bronze medalist with a point total of 4,274.
• The U.S. was also part of some history today at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing Park. The Americans won two of the first ever awarded medals in the sport of Paralympic Rowing. The mixed four with coxswain won silver and Laura Schwanger (Harrisburg, PA) won a bronze medal in the Women’s Single Sculls.
• The Women’s wheelchair basketball team finished their pool play with another easy victory. Today Brazil was the victim falling to the Americans 68-38. Jenn Ruddell (Champaign, IL) was again the top scorer with 16 points. The U.S. finished at 4-0, securing the top seed in the medal round and will now face China on Friday in the Quarterfinals. The women are now just three more wins away from repeating as Gold Medalists.
• Later in the evening the U.S. Men’s team rebounded from an eight point deficit after the third quarter and defeated previously unbeaten Australia 68-61. The U.S. limited the Aussies to only four points in the Fourth Quarter to seal the comeback win. Steve Serio (Champaign, IL) led the U.S. with 15 points while always reliable Paul “Pops” Schulte (Tampa, FL) pumped in 13. The U.S. finishes pool play at 4-1 to secure the second seed in the medal round. The first quarterfinal is Saturday against Iran.
• The Women’s Sit Volleyball team also advanced to the medal round and will face The Netherlands in a semi-final matchup Friday. China and Slovenia will play in the other semi-final.
• And in Goalball, the women’s team defeated Germany 4-0 today and will have their final preliminary game on Friday vs. Canada. The Men’s team lost their last pool play contest to Sweden 9-1 but still advanced to the Quaterfinals on Saturday vs Slovenia.

Day Five

• Add another nine medals to the U.S. haul on Day five of these 2008 Paralympic Games of Beijing. On a spectacular day weather-wise, the U.S. swimmers continued to show why they are the top swim team in the world, while the Men’s and Women’s wheelchair basketball team both picked up wins.
  • Jessica Long (Colorado Springs, CO) completed her set of medals by winning silver in the 100m Backstroke S-8 race. Long had already captured two golds and a bronze.
  • Lantz Lamback (Colorado Springs, CO) won his first gold and second medal of the games when he took the Men’s 100m Backstroke –S7.
  • Roy Perkins also won his second medal and his first gold by finishing first in the Men’s 50m Butterfly-S5.
  • And Kelly Becherer (Colorado Springs, CO) finished the night at the watercube by taking third place and the bronze medal, her second of the games in the Women’s 100m Freestyle S-13.
  • The U.S. team also picked up some medals in the Birdsnest during today’s track competition. In the Women’s 400m T-53 race the U.S. put two athletes on the podium and set a new world record in the process. Jessica Galli (Hillsborough, NJ) took first place setting a new world standard and garnered her first medal of these games. Teammate Anjali Forber-Pratt (Natick, MA) captured the bronze medal.
  • Josiah Jamison (Vance, SC), with guide Jerome Avery (Chula Vista, CA) won the gold medal in the Men’s 100m T-12 race.
• At the Laoshan Velodrome two more medals for Team USA. Barbara Buchar (Boise, ID) who is participating in her fifth Paralympic Games won her first gold medal ever in the Women’s Individual Pursuit LC3-4. The win was extra sweet for Bucher who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a cycling crash back in 1982. After two months in a coma and five brain surgeries, Buchar came onto the Paralympic scene and now has her first gold medal. Jennifer Schuble (Houston, TX) added a silver medal to go with her previous gold medal in the Women’s Individual Pursuit LC 1-2.
• Team Sports:
  • The Men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball team continued their march to the medal round with wins in Pool Play. The men rebounded from their loss to Great Britain by pounding host China 97-38. Jeff Glasbrenner (Little Rock, AR) had 16 points. Paul “Pops” Schulte (Tampa, FL) pumped in 15 and Matt Scott (Whitewater, WI) added 14. With the win the men improve to 3-1 and with a win tomorrow night vs. Australia they will guarantee themselves a spot in the medal round.
  • The Women remained undefeated when they beat Great Britain 56-31. Lorraine Gonzales (Farmington, NM) led the U.S. with 14 points and Natalie Schnieder (Lincoln, NE) had nine points. This win clinched first place for the women in Pool A and even with one more preliminary game tomorrow vs. Brazil the defending Gold Medal winners will be in the medal round.
  • The U.S. Men’s Goalball team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat Iran 4-3. The Women’s Goalball squad had to settle for a 2-2 tie with Brazil.
  • And the U.S. Women’s sit volleyball team finished pool play with a straight set win over Latvia. Their 2-1 record is good enough to advance to the medal round where they will meet the Netherlands in the semi-finals on Friday.
  • In other news, Athletic officials have decided to re-run both the Women’s 5000m wheelchair race and the women’s 200m T-44 race. In the 5000m, Cheri Blauwet (San Francisco, CA) was involved in a crash of wheelchairs that took out four racers and at the time denied her a chance to medal. In the Women’s 200m April Holmes (Somerdale, NJ) caught a spike in the track, fell into lane one, taking out the runner from France and was disqualified. April, who ended up with five stitches to close a cut over her eye, will not be eligible to re-run that race due to her disqualification. The date and times for both races is sill to be determined. Marlon Shirley, who also fell during his 100M event, suffered a torn Achilles tendon and his games have come to an end. Allison Jones (Denver, CO) has thus far failed to win a medal in her Track cycling events, finishing in 6th place in the Women’s 500m time trial. However her time was a personal best. She has won more opportunity to medal in these games in the Women’s Individual time trial. Joe McCarthy (San Diego, CA) a member of the U.S. Swim team and a P&C producer for The Bloomberg Agency is still looking for his first trip to the podium after his first two events of the Games. McCarthy has one more attempt on Tuesday in the Men’s 50m freestyle. And the two-time gold medal winning wheelchair Rugby team begins its Paralympic competition this Friday vs. China.

Day Four

• Add a total of nine more medals for the U.S. Paralympic Team after Day four competitions were completed in Beijing today.
  • The U.S. Swimming team continues to shine in the watercube led by Erin Popovich.  The diminutive swimmer added her 4th Gold medal of these games by taking the 100m breastroke SB-7 race in world record time.  With three more events to swim, Popovich is on track to equal her record gold medal haul at the 2004 Paralympic Games of Athens.
  • Ashley Owens set a new Paralympic record on her way to winning her first gold medal of the games.  She also has a silver medal as well.  Anna Eames was the bronze medalist in this event brining her medal tally to 2 Gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze.
  • And Rudy Garcia-Tolsen picked up his 4th medal of these games by taking the gold, his second, in the Men’s 100m Breastroke SB-7. Garcia-Tolsen also has a silver and bronze.
• However in the Bird's Nest during the track competition it was not all good news.  The much anticipated Men’s 100m T-44 race between Marlon Shirley of the U.S. and Oscar Histories of South Africa became anticlimactic as Shirley stumbled out of the starting blocks and could never make up the difference.  Oscar Pistorius, who had sued and won the right to compete in the Olympic Games, came away with a Gold medal with a time of 11.17 seconds.  U.S. Team members Jerome Singleton and Brian Frasure won the silver and bronze respectively.
  • There was also bad news in the women’s 200m T-44 race where favorite April Holmes fell into another lane with less than 20 meters to go and was disqualified.  Holmes suffered a mild hamstring pull and is listed as day to day.
• The team sports continued their pool play with a mixed bag of results.
  In Goalball, the U.S. Men’s team came away with their first victory of these games, defeating Brazil 6-4.  The Men’s record now stands at 1-2.
• The Women’s Goalball team suffered their first defeat of the games, losing to host China 4-0.  The women’s record now stands at 2-1.
• And the basketball competition continues as well.  The women’s wheelchair basketball team came with their “A” game and trounced Australia 61-42.  Jen Ruddel led all scores with 18 points and Stephanie “The Intimidator” Wheeler pumped in 11.  The women now stand at 2-0.
• The Men’s wheelchair basketball squad suffered their first loss in three games, bowing to Great Britain 54-50.  Joe Chambers led the U.S. with 14 points and Paul “Pops” Schulte had 13.

Day Three

• The U.S. Paralympic Team added four more gold medals to their overall count today with three of them again coming from competition in the Watercube.
  • Erin Popovich captured her second gold medal by winning the Women’s 100m Freestyle SW-7 race and in the process established a new Paralympic record.  Teammate Cortney Johnson took the silver.
  • Jessica Long also captured her second first place of the games when she won the Women’s 100m Freestyle S-8 race.  The third gold medal in the pool today went to Anna Eames in the 100m Butterfly S-10.
• The long gold medal that was not wet belonged to Jennifer Schube as she won the Women’s 500m cycling time trials.  It was the first non-swimming gold medal for the U.S. Team at these 2008 Paralympic Games of Beijing.
  • In athletic competition at the National Stadium, better known as the Birds Nest, Amanda McGrorey captured the Bronze medal for the United States in the Women’s 5000m T-54 wheelchair race.  Amanda was able to escape a spectacular crash on the track with just over a lap to go that took out nearly half the field, including race favorite Cheri Blauwet of the United States.
  • In the team competitions, the U.S. Men’s wheelchair basketball team improved their pool play record to 2-0 with an impressive 87-41 win over Brazil.  Paul “Pops” Schulte led all scorers with 20 points while Jeff Glasbrenner pumped in 13.
  • The U.S. Women’s wheelchair basketball team opened their Paralympic Games with a hard fought 42-38 victory over Germany, currently the #2 ranked team in the world.  Christina Ripp led the U.S. with 11 points.

Day Two

• Competition at the 2008 Paralympic Games of Beijing began in earnest with the first medals of the games being awarded at the Watercube, the futuristic swimming venue.  16 new world records were set on the first day alone and the United States had two of those.
  • Erin Popovich (Silverbow, MT) won her first gold medal of these games by shattering her previous world record time by nearly six seconds to win the Women’s SM-7 200m Individual Medley.
  • Rudy Tolsen Garcia (Bloomington, CA) also added a gold and world record to his list of achievements when he beat the field in the Men’s SM-7 200m Individual medley relay.
  • Jessica Long (Baltimore, MD) won gold in the Women’s SM-8 100m butterfly and Miranda Uhl (Alachua, CA) took first place in the Women’s SM 6 200m Individual medal.
• In team competition which is beginning pool play, the US women’s goalball team won their first match defeating Japan 2-0.
  • The U.S. men’s goalball team lost their first round match to China 13-3.
  • The U.S.Men’s wheelchair basketball team opened their Paralympic competition with an easy 76-53 win over Israel.  Joe Chambers (Whitewater, WI) led the U.S. with 14 points while Steve Serio (Westbury, NY) added 13.
  • And in Sit Volleyball, the U.S. Women’s team swept Lithuania 25-15, 25-18, 25-9.

Day One

• Before some 91,000 cheering spectators, the 13th Summer Paralympic Games of Beijing began with the Opening ceremonies in the now famous Birds Nest.  As was the case with the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, the event included a massive fireworks display, the parade of 148 countries and nearly 4,000 athletes marching into the stadium, a spectacular show entitled Flying with the dream, featuring more than 5,000 performers including 400 with disabilities.  The highlight of the opening ceremony was a ballet performance by a young girl who lost a leg four months ago in the devastating Sichuan earthquake.
• Following the official proclamation from Chinese President Hu Jintao that these games were now open, a Chinese wheelchair athlete pulled himself, and his chair, by pulley system to the top of the stadium to light the Paralympic cauldron.
• During the 11 days of competition 472 medal events will be contested, 170 more than the Olympic Games due to the multiple classifications for the elite disabled athletes.

Pictures from Beijing

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Closing Ceremonies	Closing Ceremonies	Click on an image on the left to select that photo. An enlarged picture and a description will be displayed here. Closing Ceremonies Closing Ceremonies of the 2008 Paralymic Games in Beijing Closing Ceremonies Closing Ceremonies of the 2008 Paralymic Games in Beijing American Fans American Fans Cheer at the Wheelchair Rugby Game Wheelchair Rugby Start of Wheelchair Rugby Gold Medal Game! Winning the Gold! Patty Cisneros and Alana Nichols show off their basketball Gold Medals
American Fans	Wheelchair Rugby Gold
Winning the Gold