Portugal finnishes the Paralympic Games with 2 medals and 23 diplomas
Odete Fiúza and Manuel Mendes finished this morning in the sixth and eighth positions, respectively, the marathon of the Paralympic Games of classes T11 and T46, closing the Portuguese participation in the competition.
In the competition for athletes T11 (visual impairment), Odete Fiúza, who added her seventh participation in the Paralympic Games, clocked 3:20.45 hours, being 19.55 minutes from the winner, the Japanese Misato Michishita (3:00.50). After five years ago, from Rio, having been bronze, Mendes finished in 2:45.11 hours, 19.21 minutes behind the winner, the Chinese Chaoyan Li, who ran in 2:25.50 and set a new Paralympic record.
With a representation of 33 athletes, Portugal leaves the Paralympic Games with two bronze medals – won by European champions Miguel Monteiro (weight) and Norberto Mourão (canoeing) – and 23 diplomas.
This is the least medaled performance since 1972, the year of its debut in Paralympics, in which Portugal did not obtain any medal – the representation was reduced, 11 athletes who competed in the wheelchair basketball tournament. The most awarded edition was also the one in which the delegation was more numerous: 52 athletes in Sydney2000, with 15 podium places.
The results fall short of the four foreseen in the program-contract with the Government, but which are understood due to the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on the athletes’ preparation. In total, Portugal gets 94 medals in Paralympic competitions.
