T&T’s three-member athletic delegation Akeem Stewart, Nyoshia Cain and Shanntol Ince finished tied with Finland for 56th on the medal table out of 163 countries as the Rio Paralympic Games came to a close yesterday. Its three-medal haul included one gold, one silver and one bronze.
Field athlete 24-year-old Akeem Stewart emerged as a new national hero when he set a world record (57.32m) to win the Men’s Javelin (F42/43/44) and later bagged a silver in the Discus (F43/44), tossing 61.72m.
The country’s third medal came from sprinter Nyoshia Cain, who took bronze in the Women’s 100m (t43/44) in a personal best of 13.10. Cain was disqualified from the 200m during the heat stage.
T&T’s third athlete, swimmer Shanntol Ince competed in four events without advancing past the opening round. Ince placed seventh in her Women’s 100m Butterfly heat in 1:20.12, third in her Women’s 400m Freestyle (S9) heat in 5:31.06, seventh in her Women’s 100m Freestyle (S9) heat in 1:12.41 and seventh in her Women’s 50m Freestyle (S9) heat in 33.38.
Prior to the 2016 Games, the country’s only previous Paralympic medals had been Rachael Marshall’s two golds and one bronze at the 1984 Games in New York, USA.
China topped the medal tally with 239 (107g-81s-51s) followed by Great Britain’s 147 (64-39-44) and Ukraine’s 117 (41-37-39). Over 4,300 athletes participated in the game which ran for 12 consecutive days in Rio, Brazil. The T&T contingent will return home at 11.30 tomorrow night.
FINAL Medal Standings
Place Country Gold Silver Medal Total
1 CHINA 107 81 51 239
2 GREAT BRITAIN 64 39 44 147
3 UKRAINE 41 37 39 117
4 UNITED STATES 40 44 31 115
5 AUSTRALIA 22 30 29 81
6 GERMANY 18 25 14 57
7 NETHERLANDS 17 19 26 62
8 BRAZIL 14 29 29 72
9 ITALY 10 14 15 39
10 POLAND 9 18 12 39
56 T&T 1 1 1 3