Moments before New Zealand-born Australian war veteran Curtis McGrath began his gold-medal winning para-canoe race in Rio, he looked down at the bracelet on his wrist, and remembered his mates that didn’t come home. McGrath lost his legs four years ago when he stepped on a landmine while serving in the Australian Army in Afghanistan. McGrath was neck and neck with Swoboda until the halfway point of Thursday’s final, but powered home with his signature strong back end. “It’s actually a carbon copy of our race in the world champs this year,” McGrath said. For now, he wants to grow the debut sport of para-canoe and the Paralympic movement.

Source: The Guardian September 15, 2016 23:37 UTC