Wheelchair fencer Maurice Schmidt wins fourth Paralympic gold for Germany

Wheelchair fencer Maurice Schmidt has won the fourth gold medal at the Paralympics for Germany. Thanks to an 8-0 run, he defeated Piers Gilliver 15-8 on Tuesday evening (03.09.2024).

“I don’t know what happened today, it just seemed like everything was perfect. Everything went well, everything I planned worked. I also had complete confidence.”said Schmidt in the Sportschau interview after his gold coup. “In the final, I think my opponent was a bit overwhelmed by me, because he usually fences against me in a different way. But here and today, everything worked out and I simply finished him off.”

Back and forth in the final – until Schmidt turns up the heat

Schmidt had to wait until late in the evening for his final against the top seeded Briton. Instead of starting at 9:40 p.m. as planned, the match started at 11:05 p.m. – with the first goal for the German. Gilliver countered, scored the next three points, but then Schmidt came back with four goals and took the lead 5:3. Although he lost them again, the battle remained exciting and evenly balanced, and Gilliver was leading 8:7 at halftime.

Then it was Schmidt’s big moment, who had already expressed his ambitions for a medal before the start of the Paralympics. The 25-year-old scored seven goals in a row after the short break and was very close to victory at 14:8. And the next point also went to Schmidt – the referees had to watch the duel again on video, but decided in favor of the German, who burst into cheers.

“Maurice fenced intelligently. He implemented everything we had planned”said national coach Alexander Bondar, who, however, had to slow down his protégé a bit for the following match. “He actually wanted to celebrate today, but I told him that there was still a competition and a double pack would be better. No one will underestimate Maurice anymore.” After winning gold in the sabre, Schmidt will compete in the épée competition on Friday (06.09.2024).

Things got tight in the quarterfinals

In the semifinals, Schmidt had beaten the Chinese Jianquan Tian 15:12 and thus already secured a medal. In the round of the last eight, he had problems against the Hungarian veteran Richard Osvath, but thanks to an 8:0 run in the meantime, he won comfortably 15:10. In the opening match, he beat the American William Schoonover 15:3.

In para-fencing, the wheelchair is fixed to a frame on the ground. Fencers who have intact abdominal and back muscles and no restrictions on their fencing arm compete in performance class A.