Gold and silver triumph for NZ paralympians

GOLDEN RIDE: Wellington lawyer Paula Tesoriero has won gold on the velocrome at the Paralympics in Beijing.

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Wellington lawyer Paula Tesoriero won a gold medal in track cycling yesterday and deserved another for bravery after knocking herself senseless trying to celebrate her victory at the Paralympics in Beijing.

It was a double for New Zealand competitors yesterday Christchurch teenager Sophie Pascoe won a silver medal in the 100m butterfly S10 swim after qualifying fourth for the final earlier.

Pascoe, 15, is the youngest-ever New Zealand Paralympian.

The 33-year-old Tesoriero, who has two legs that do not work below the knee, won the 500m time trial in world record time but then had the misfortune to crash head-first over the handlebars after slowing down to get a New Zealand flag.

New Zealand chef de mission Duane Kale said that although Tesoriero had been briefly knocked unconcious, her helmet had emerged unscratched from the topple.

"She broke her fall with her chin..." he said.

Kale said that although a broken jaw was initially suspected, x-rays seemed to discount that, although Tesoriero did have some signs of concussion.

"Someone was trying to hand me a flag and I lost it," Tesoriero said from Beijing.

"I'm rapt I've achieved what I came here to do, but I'm pretty shaken up and a bit sore. I hit my head pretty hard..."

While Tesoriero was elated with the victory, she doesn't plan to stop at just one gold medal.

"I feel fantastic. Absolutely fantastic," she said straight after her win.

"The race went exactly to plan. It was a bit tight toward the end, but I finished around half a second between gold and silver. My next race is on Wednesday and I want to do it again," she said.

Tesoriero will contest the women's individual pursuit tomorrow, and the road race on Saturday.

Tesoriero took up competitive riding two years ago but she instantly turned heads in the disabled sports world, and again yesterday when she clocked 43.281sec to finish ahead of German rider Natalie Simanowski.

"I was the second-last to race and there were some fast times posted ahead of me, so I had a quite few nerves on the start line," Tesoriero said.

Kale said Pascoe had been aiming at using the butterfly and 100m freestyle later today as a warm-up for her main events, the 100m breaststroke and 200m medley.

But after swimming a personal best in yesterday morning's heats, she cranked up the effort in the final to haul in Chinese swimmer Shuai Wang over the last 50m for second place.

-with NZPA

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Tina   #10   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Well done paralympians!! Great work!! Just wish that there was more coverage 2 watch than one hour. Very disappointing. These amazing athletes should be given the same coverage as the able bodied athletes do. They train just as hard and they deserve the same exposure. After saying that, GO KIWIS GO!!!

belladonna2   #9   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Paralympic TV & media coverage has always been shocking - our athletes should all be household names. Unfortunately Stuff is doing no better - the Olympics section disappearedas soon as main games finished, and to find anything on the medals won so far I had to SEARCH!! No headline on main page, no editors pic, not even a headline in the sports section.

Barbara   #8   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Totally agree with Paul.....the lack of coverage for the Paralympians is absolutely appalling. They live and breath like our able bodied olympians so should be given the same coverage.

Clare   #7   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I, too, was appalled at the lack of coverage of the paralympics. Paula Tesoriero's gold medal and new world record were not reported on either Prime or One News yesterday, but there was time allocated to Britney Spears. How can that be right? Give these athletes the coverage they deserve.

Eilidh   #6   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Awesome job Paula. Glad your Mum and Sis were there to cheer you on.

kyle   #5   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

well done

should of got more golds tho but cant wait till next olimpics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Andy   #4   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Well done!!

There should be the same amount of coverage for both Olympics! Everyone works just as hard and they all deserve the same exposure,

Plus we all love watching the olympics!!!!!!!!!!

Paul   #3   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

The lack of coverage for the Paralympics is absolutely appalling. At Athens, the Paralympians brought in far more medals than our differently-abled athletes managed to do at the Olympics. Yet, the only TV coverage we get from our national broadcaster in return for the cost of them having a presence in Beijing is less than an hour of highlights of the opening ceremony plus another two hours (less adverts) each day.

Wake up TVNZ - people with disabilities watch TV too, as do the friends, families and co-workers of our NZ Paralympian team. Or, at least, we would all be watching if you had bothered to give us decent coverage. For shame!

Kylie   #2   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Way to go! Such amazing athletes!

Jess   #1   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Awesome work by the Paralympians - more to come for sure!! Just wish there was more coverage on TV and at an earlier time than 11pm.

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