Paralympics 2024 at a glance: The Paralympics snippets from Wednesday, September 4

Sprinter Alessandro Ossola missed the 100m final in Paris, but got the long-awaited wedding in the city of love. The Paralympics snippets from Wednesday, September 4th.

Ossola missed the final – but his sweetheart says yes to him

Para-athlete Alessandro Ossola’s grief over missing the 100-meter final was short-lived. Immediately after the race, the Italian left his girlfriend Arianna in the stands of the Stade de France in Paris, knelt down and proposed to her.

“They said to me, ‘You’re crazy, you’re crazy’ – and she kissed me. It was really exciting,” the 36-year-old told the BBC. “I was unlucky, I didn’t make it to the final and I was really sad about it. But after three minutes I was really happy.”

Nine years ago, Ossola lost his first wife in a motorcycle accident and a large part of his left leg was amputated. He had already thought about the plan for the marriage proposal months earlier. “We love Paris, and Paris – the city of love – was the right city to ask her to be my wife,” said Ossola.

Para-swimming: 17th gold medal for Jessica Long

What a career: 20 years after her first Paralympic gold medal, swimmer Jessica Long from the USA celebrated her 17th title – and won her 30th medal in total. In the final of the 400 m freestyle S8 on Wednesday evening in the La Defense Arena, she relegated Alice Tai to second place. “She is a legend,” said the Briton. “To be in a competition with her is just crazy.” In 2004, Long won her first gold medal in Athens – she was twelve years old at the time. Will Ismail Barlov follow in her footsteps? The 13-year-old from Bosnia-Herzegovina won silver in Paris – and thus the first ever medal in para-swimming for his country.

Wheelchair tennis: First gold in doubles, then opponents in singles

Sam Schröder and Niels Vink have secured gold in the quad doubles of the Paralympic tennis tournament. The two Dutchmen won the final 6:1, 6:1 against Andy Lapthorne and Gregory Slade from Great Britain. The duo had also triumphed in Tokyo.

Curious: On Thursday (September 5, 2024), Schröder and Vink will face each other in the final of the singles competition on Court Philippe-Chatrier in Roland Garros. Vink won bronze in Tokyo, Schröder silver. One of them will now win his first singles gold.

Para-weightlifting: Winner Degtyarev too tired to celebrate

After “three years of continuous preparation” and “with God’s help,” Kazakh David Degtyarev followed up his gold triumph in Tokyo with a victory in the weightlifting in the 54 kg class. On the first day of the competition in Paris, he beat Pablo Ramirez Barrientos from Cuba (185) and the Chinese Jinglang Yang (179) with a load of 188 kg. But the 28-year-old completely exhausted himself – he certainly didn’t have the energy to celebrate: “I’m going to go back to the Paralympic Village and sleep.”

Para-archery: Harvinder Singh writes Indian again Sports history

Harvinder Singh is the first Indian to win gold in archery at the Olympic or Paralympic Games. In the recurve individual competition, he beat Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 in the final. Three years ago, Singh won bronze in Tokyo, making him the first Indian ever to win a Paralympic medal in archery. Singh felt “fantastic” after his success in Paris: “It was a dream from twelve years ago when I started archery. I just controlled my emotions, my movements and my shot, and the result is this gold medal. This.” The para-archery in Paris 2024 ended on Thursday (05.09.2024, 10:00 a.m.) with the open competition for mixed teams in recurve shooting.

Wheelchair fencing: This time only bronze for Beatrice “Bebe” Vio

The 27-year-old wheelchair fencer Beatrice “Bebe” Vio from Italy missed the Paralympics gold hat trick: After winning the finals in 2016 in Rio and 2021 in Tokyo in the individual foil competition, she “only” came third in Paris. But she still has a second chance at gold with the team on Thursday (September 5, 2024). The five-time world champion is the only wheelchair fencer at the 2024 Summer Games to hold the foil with a prosthesis. Even without a weapon, Vio is a star: More than 1.3 million people follow her on Instagram, the toy manufacturer Mattel dedicated a Barbie doll to her, and the then US President Barack Obama invited her to a dinner at the White House in 2016.