Rio de Janeiro (BR), 15th September 2016. Second race at the Rio de
Janeiro Paralympic Games* (BR) and the second medal for Alessandro
Zanardi (IT): after winning gold in Wednesday’s time trial, the
49-year old secured silver in a thrilling road race in the handbike H5
category on Thursday. It was a special day, as on this date 15 years
ago – 15th September 2001 – Zanardi lost both of his legs in a race
accident at Germany’s Lausitzring. He often calls this day his “second
birthday” as he survived this serious accident. Now, 15 years later,
he has won a total of five Paralympic* medals (three gold and two
silver) and eight world championship titles in para-cycling.
As Zanardi had predicted, the 60-kilometre road race in Pontal near
Rio turned out to be a thriller, decided in a 200-metre sprint towards
the finish. The leading group stayed close together over the whole
distance until the athletes entered the finish straight after a tight
hairpin. Zanardi exited the final corner in second position, and in
the following sprint he battled an exciting duel with his rival and
close friend Ernst van Dyk (ZA). In the end, he crossed the line just
a few hundredths of a second shy of the South African, winning the
silver medal. Zanardi’s first gesture after the race was to
congratulate van Dyk by laying his arm on his friend’s shoulders just
a few metres after the finish line. Bronze went to Jetze Plat (NL),
who crossed the line directly behind van Dyk and Zanardi. All three
were classified with a race time of 1 hour, 37 minutes and 49 seconds.
“First of all I want to congratulate Ernst van Dyk for winning a
great gold medal. He showed all his qualities as a sprinter, and today
he was probably stronger than me. Nevertheless, to have won the silver
medal is fantastic for me,” Zanardi said. “It was a difficult race.
Let me explain: Sometimes you cannot control your emotions and
yesterday, when I realised that I had won gold, I was very proud but
psychologically I simply collapsed. All the pressure I had put myself
under, but that I tried to ignore all the time, fell off my shoulders.
So this morning I was not in the racing mood that normally pushes you,
that makes you forget that you have less sleep and that helps that you
don’t feel the pain in the muscles. So the day did not start in the
way I was hoping. I felt empty in the beginning and it was a tiring
race for me. But, despite this, I still managed to do a very good job
– and I am very proud of it. To bring home my silver medal under these
circumstances is a great and fantastic achievement. So I am happy.”
The third and final competition for Zanardi at Rio will be the team
relay with the Italian national team tomorrow, Friday, 16th September.
His mission: to bring home another gold medal.
“I feel that I am back in that racing mood,” Zanardi emphasised. “And
now it is not only the motivation to do it for myself. Tomorrow, I am
racing for my team and for my country. And I promise you: I will give
it my best possible shot, and so I think we have a great chance to
finish the race tomorrow with a big smile.”
The team relay will be held in the afternoon local time.
*Note:
BMW is not a sponsor or partner of the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio
de Janeiro.