KATRINA OVERCOMES PHOBIA TO STRIKE GOLD FOR THE GIRLS
BEIJING, September 11: Katrina Porter has struck gold for the girls on day four of swimming at the 2008 Paralympics when she recorded her second world record of the day to win Australia's third gold medal at the National Aquatic Centre.
Porter's gold follows Australia's earlier gold medals to Peter Leek and Matthew Cowdrey and with silver medals yesterday to Leek (100m backstroke) and the Australian 4x100m freestyle relay (Ben Austin, Leek, Sam Bramham and Cowdrey), the Australians have now won 11 medals - three gold, five silver and three bronze, with four days of competition remaining.
Leek and Cowdrey now have three medals each - Leek a gold, silver and bronze while Cowdrey has a gold and two silver medals.
But yesterday was Porter's day in the Cube after she qualified fastest for the women's 100m backstroke (S7) final yesterday morning, beating the world record by over a second in a time of 1 minute 24.44 seconds.
She then charged home in the final to break that record again and take Australia's eighth overall Paralympic gold medal in 1 minute 24.30 seconds while fellow Australian Shelley Rogers finished fifth.
The 20-year-old West Australian student, overcame a phobia about swimming in the "Water Cube" to win the gold.
"I had a really big phobia coming here because the roof isn't straight," she said. (backstrokers like to follow the roof line)
"I've always been really bad at swimming in the middle of the lane and that's been my biggest fault at training; my coach just says ‘will you ever learn to swim in the middle of the lane?'
" I haven't been able to guide myself but lane four has a pole the whole way, so I just kept telling myself to aim at the pole and you'll go straight."
Porter said her two dreams ahead of Beijing were a world record and a gold medal.
"But I didn't think I'd get both of them... I just went all out and I'm so happy...I'm elated and shocked," she said.
"It hasn't really sunk in - when I touched the wall I didn't actually think I was in front. I had no idea where anyone was and I just thought ‘far out this is going to be really close.'"
Porter, a student, has a genetic disorder causing permanent muscle weakness and joint stiffness.
"To have my boyfriend Michael Hartnett (Australian wheelchair basketballer here) just makes it great," she said.
"He was playing basketball at the same time I was swimming so I don't think he knows yet," she said.
She had no shortage of supporters in the crowd. Her mum and dad, sister, two sets of aunties and uncles were all cheering for her.
Katrina said she knew her job wasn't finished after breaking the world record in the morning.
In the 100m backstroke (S8) final Leek added a silver to complete his medal collection while Russian Konstantin Lisenkov shaved another few hundredths of a second off the world record time he set in heats, swimming the distance in 1 minute 6.33 seconds.
Ricardo Moffatti finished fifth while Blake Cochrane did not make the final.
In the men's 4x100m freestyle 34 point relay Australia's Ben Austin (1:01.95), Leek (59.04), Sam Bramham (57.74) and Cowdrey (54.86) added to the tally board with a silver medal in 3:53.59.
Great Britain took home the gold and recorded a world record time of 3 minutes 51.43 seconds.
Yet another world record fell in the heats during men's 100m backstroke (S7) courtesy of the USA's Lantz Lamback, who then went on to better that time by two seconds in the final and win gold finishing in 1 minute 12.09 seconds.
Australia's Jay Dohnt did not manage to qualify in that race.
In the women's 100m backstroke (S8) event, Australia's Rhiannon Oliver did not qualify while Great Britain's Heather Frederiksen added a world record to her name and won gold in the final.
South Africa's Paul Kevin set a world record in the men's 100m breaststroke (SB9) final while Rick Pendleton finished fourth.
Australians Jeremy Tidy and Daniel Bell missed out on making the final.
In the women's 100m freestyle (S13) final Canadian Valerie Grand Maison notched up a world record and gold medal win while Australia's Prue Watt finished sixth. Teigan Van Roosmalen did not qualify for the final.
2008 PARALYMPICS AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING MEDALLISTS AFTER DAY FOUR
Gold (3)
Peter Leek Men's 100 metre butterfly S8 1:00.95 WR
Matthew Cowdrey Men's 100 metre freestyle S9 55.30 WR
Katrina Porter Women's100 metre backstroke S7 1:24.30 WR
Silver (5)
Matthew Cowdrey Men's 100 metre butterfly S9 59.46
Ellie Cole Women's 100 metre butterfly S9 1:10.92
Blake Cochrane Men's 100 metre breaststroke SB7 1:23.36
Peter Leek Men's 100 metre backstroke S8 1:07.28
Ben Austin Men's 4x100 metre freestyle relay 34PTS 3:53.59
Peter Leek
Sam Bramham
Matthew Cowdrey
Bronze (3)
Annabelle Williams Women's 100 metre butterfly - S9 1:10.98
Jacqueline Freney Women's 100 metre freestyle - S8 1:08.56
Peter Leek Men's 100 metre freestyle - S8 59.14
Kurt Hanson
Media Manager
Hanson Media Group
* Additional reporting, APC Media Team, Beijing