“I don’t know what to say. I gave it everything out there. I’m too tired to think or say anything. It’s so fantastic to win,” she said.

This is young Sophie’s 3rd medal, following on from the gold she won in the women’s 100m breaststroke, and the silver medal she won in the women’s 100m butterfly.

In other Paralympics news, NZ shooter Michael Johnson has scored a bronze medal in the men’s 10m Air Rifle Standing event, and Paula Teseriero has followed up her gold medal with a bronze in the women’s individual pursuit at the Beijing validrome.

Awesome stuff guys!

Also in the medal action on day 3 of competition is cyclist Paula Tesoriero, who has won a bronze medal in the women’s Individual Pursuit, to add to her gold medal on the first day.

Awesome stuff - go you Kiwi girls!

Throughout the month of September, everyone who sends me an “accessible review” will go into the draw to win a brand new, 4th-generation 8GB iPod Nano, in your choice of 9 vibrant colours!

You know the drill - send me a review of somewhere awesomely accessible - or perhaps not! - by the 30th of September, and I’ll choose the best one at the end of the month, and that lucky person will be the proud owner of a new iPod. Easy huh?!

Head on over to our competition page to find out more, or simply get reviewing, and flick me an email once you’re done!

Good luck!

Good on ya Sophie, we’re all very proud of you!

If you’re not sure who Sophie is, I’ve blogged about her before - video included!

BC1

Liam Sanders

• Beat D. Smith (Great Britain) 5 - 2
• Beat A. Marques (Portugal) 6 - 0
• Lost to R. Aandalen (Norway) 5 - 2
• Lost to P. Moran (Ireland) 7 - 3

BC2

Maurice Toon

• Lost to J. Morriss (New Zealand) 9 - 4 (Tiebreak 5 - 0 to Morriss)
• Beat E. Wilhemsen (Norway) 21 - 0
• Lost to H. Kwok (Hong Kong) 4 - 3

Jeremy Morriss

• Beat M. Toon (New Zealand) 9 - 4
• Lost to H. Kwok (Hong Kong) 3 - 2
• Beat E. Wilhelmsen (Norway) 10 - 1

Kerry Bonner

• Lost to N. Murray (Great Britain) 17 - 0
• Lost to J. Loung (Hong Kong) 4 - 1
• Lost to T. Hirose (Japan) 8 - 1

BC3

Henk Dijkstra

• Lost to V. Sukkarath (Thailand) 5 - 4
• Lost to G. Polychronidis (Greece) 19 - 0
• Beat H. Zhu (China) 13 - 0

Greig Jackson

• Beat J. Zhu (China) 4 - 2
• Lost to B. Shin (Korea) 6 - 2
• Lost to J. Rodriguez (Spain) 4 - 3 (Tiebreak 1 - 0 to Rodriguez)

Mandy Slade

• Lost to M. Peixoto (Portugal) 12 - 0
• Lost to T. Visaratnanunta (Thailand) 11 - 0
• Lost to H. Jeong (Korea) 14 - 0

The win, however, came with an element of post-race drama. After crossing the line, Tesoriero was about to get off the track so she slowed down and was looking around. While riding slowly across the corner of the course, she crashed her bike and couldn’t move. There didn’t appear to be any reason for the crash other than an error in judgment.

The medical assistants put her on the stretcher immediately and her expression was etched in pain. She couldn’t speak; her chin and hands were shaking uncontrollably. Yet at that very moment, it appeared on the screen that she won the gold medal. Looking at the screen, she burst into tears. Fellow athletes came to her side and gave their congratulations; she struggled to sit up and waved her left hand to the many spectators who were encouraging her.

Good on ya Paula, let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come!

Says the Attitude website:

The Attitude Awards seek to honour the outstanding achievements of ordinary New Zealanders who have disabilities – men and women who have excelled in business, sport and life.

Nominations are now open, in the following categories:

• Attitude Enterprise Award - This award aims to recognise an individual, team, organisation or company whose activities, innovation and achievements have improved the lives of persons with a disability and/or their families.
• Attitude Sportsman Award - will be awarded to the athlete whose level of achievement in 2008 represented excellence in sport at the highest level.
• Attitude Sportswoman Award - will be awarded to the athlete whose level of achievement in 2008 represented excellence in sport at the highest level.
• Attitude Youth Award - recognises and rewards outstanding young New Zealanders with a disability aged 12 to 24 years.
• Attitude ACC Employer Award - will be awarded to an organization that demonstrates their support, commitment & innovative approaches to employee’s with disabilities throughout their organization.
• Attitude Community Award - will be awarded for the outstanding contribution made by an individual (either from an organization or from within a family) to a member or members of the disability community of New Zealand.
• Attitude Arts Award – will be awarded for outstanding achievement in the arts. The event will be televised as a special episode of Attitude but Close Up (TV One) has also committed to covering the build up, finalists and the event itself.

Now in a shameless show of self-promotion, I have no problem with any of you voting for meee! I do of course fit into the bracket of ‘youth’ (thank goodness!) so if you do have the time to put in a nomination for me, I would be hugely grateful. I believe you can nominate as many people as you like, so no pressure hehe

Click here to download a nomination form (PDF format). I believe if you email them they can send you one in Word format if that’s easier for you.

Happy nominating!

Check it out!