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Distance runner Jaryd Clifford realised a dream – winning his first Paralympic medal – but it came at considerable cost.
Sprinter Evan O’Hanlon still managed to keep the dream alive winning his seventh Paralympic medal across four Games – but it could be his last.
Such were the contrasting stories of Australia’s two medal winners in athletics on Saturday.
Clifford can’t remember patches of his post-race movements, after taking silver in the 5000m (T13) class at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium because he was under severe heat stress.
Australian and Tokyo 2020 medical staff had to apply ice packs to his body, rehydrate and cool him down with ice baths and other treatments, after he collapsed in the tunnel under the stadium.
Clifford gave his absolute all to the point of physical exhaustion trying to catch Spain’s Yassine Ouhdad El Aaby, who took gold in 14m:34.13 with Clifford 14:35.52 – well outside his personal best but temperatures were in the mid-30s and the humidity was energy-sapping.
Clifford beat the Spaniard to take the 5000m gold at the 2019 Dubai World Championships. But the 22-year-old Victorian was just as proud to take silver today.
“I’m finally a Paralympic medallist – it ticks a pretty big box. I would be more disappointed if I didn’t win but hadn’t given it my all. But I did,” said Clifford who finished seventh at Rio 2016.
“I haven’t really felt like that after a race – ever – that makes me able to accept the result because it genuinely felt like I gave it my all.”
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Clifford’s courage even prompted a Tweet from Premier Daniel Andrews saying “You gave it everything and then some more. Our entire state is proud of you.”
Clifford chose to run without a sighted guide, which he used in the night-time final in Dubai.
“It was a morning race here so visually I was fine. I don’t think I could have run that last lap any quicker with a guide today,” he said.
“The Spanish guy is a 29-minute 10K runner. He’s a solid runner – I knew he was a big threat.”
Clifford was confident of recovering fully for the 1500m on Tuesday morning.
“I’m up against a totally different group of runners. The heat in the 1500 shouldn’t be as much of a factor. I’ve just got to get myself in the best possible position to cover the moves.”
As for his third event – the Marathon on Sunday September 5?
“I’ll make a decision later but I’m definitely intent on doing it because the pace for the Marathon is a lot different and I have the guides (Tim Logan, Vincent Donnadieu). We can put water on ourselves the whole way. The 5k hurts differently from a Marathon hurt. I’m ready for the hurt in that way.”
O’Hanlon crossed the line in the 100m (T38) final dead-heating with China’s Zhu Dening on 11.00s. It meant officials went to the thousandth-of-a-second to decide silver and bronze. The Australian was awarded the bronze.
“Obviously it would have been nice to go 10.99, or just get a look at the photo finish to see if we can work out a 0.001,” he said.
“That would have meant I’d have gone below 11 seconds in four Games and I think that’s pretty impressive.”
No argument there as it was O’Hanlon’s sixth individual medal – seven if you add in his 4x100m relay gold in Beijing 2008. In fact, five of those seven are gold, with a 100m silver in Rio and now a bronze.
“I’m really happy with that. In Rio I was pretty disappointed with silver but I’m just pumped to be back on the podium. Two months ago I ran 11.70 flat out,” he said.
“But I’ve improved that much and that’s basically (coach) Iryna Dvoskina’s work. She just points me in the right direction and I do what I’m told.”
O’Hanlon might not be pointing towards any more Summer Paralympics, instead aiming to become a Winter Olympian with the able-bodied Australian bobsleigh team.
“I think that’s the end of Paralympic Games. I’ll most likely have a go at Commonwealth Games next year and then the World Championships just after that.”
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Wheelchair racer Madison de Rozario raced her 5000m (T53) final straight after Clifford. She sat in bronze medal position behind break-away leaders Susannah Scaroni (USA) and Manuela Schaer (Switz), who finished with gold-silver, but then was out-sprinted down the straight to finish fifth in 11m:15.86.
Only 0.73 seconds separated third from fifth.
“Honestly the heat was somehow the least of my problems out there. It was rough but it’s rough for everybody and we’ve done a lot of work to get ready for that,” de Rozario said.
“I rely quite heavily on my race tactics because I’m not always the fastest or strongest – as you saw, my low to high acceleration needs work. Unfortunately the race today required quite a lot of that.
“I know my strengths and weaknesses quite well and one thing I like to have my head around is knowing my fellow racers’ strengths and weaknesses and I just didn’t have that information coming into Tokyo. We haven’t raced internationally in two years and I definitely made a few mistakes out there,” she said.
In other finals results on Saturday, Sarah Walsh in her second Paralympics at just 23 years-old, finished seventh in the Long Jump (T44) with 5.11m
The current world record holder Fleur Jong (Netherlands) broke her own mark with her leap in Tokyo – 6.16m. There were four season-bests during the competition.
“The level of the girls I compete against is insane. I knew going in I would have to just pull out a big jump – but I just couldn’t really put it all together as I wanted to,” Walsh said.
“But I’m just so happy and excited to be competing at a Paralympic Games. It’s been a long time coming so to finally be here in Tokyo is pretty special. I mean, after everything we’ve gone through the past 18 months, the job today was to jump big and enjoy the moment and I definitely enjoyed every minute out there.”
Rhiannon Clarke and Ella Pardy both lowered their heat times to finish 5th (13.08) and seventh (13.14) respectively in the women’s 100m (T38) final, to record season-best times.
Alissa Jordaan finished seventh in the 400m (T47) final with a 1:01.30, but that was the 18-year-old’s first Paralympic final at her first Paralympic Games.
“It’s been an amazing experience. As much as it hurts the ego to come last in a race, if you run your own race, and a run a good time for you, then you can’t really be disappointed. So I’m happy,” she said.
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Away from the medals there were still performances that stirred emotions.
Long jumper Ari Gesini competed in the 100m (T38) as the ideal preparation for his field event later in the Tokyo program. But he ran on Saturday with a medal his father won at a high school athletics meet – his father passed away in June.
“I don’t know if I could say I felt his presence but I definitely felt more calm than normal that’s for sure,” Gesini said.
Gesini didn’t make the 100m final but he still took something away for next Wednesday’s long jump.
“The 100m did it’s job… I now know I’ll get my feet running as fast down the runway as I did in Dubai.”
He finished fourth at the 2019 worlds and hopes to push up onto the podium at his first Paralympics.
By: Margie McDonald, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 28 August 2021
