Paris: Australian Paralympian and bike crash survivor Alexa Leary has spearheaded her country to a stunning relay gold medal in the pool on Monday evening thanks to an anchor leg that will live long in the memory.
Just over three years since doctors told Leary’s family she would not live after a horror accident while completing triathlon training, the Queenslander pulled off an epic final two laps of the mixed 4×100-metre medley relay (34 points) to seal her first Paralympic gold medal.
Australia’s Alexa Leary, right, powers past Netherlands swimmer Thijs van Hofweegen.Credit: Getty Images
Teams for this relay feature two males and two females with varying degrees of disabilities.
After solid legs from Jessie Aungles, Timothy Hodge and Emily Beecroft, Leary dived into the pool at the La Defense Arena in Paris with Australia in fourth position. She was 6.28 seconds and 15 metres behind male Netherlands swimmer Thijs van Hofweegen, who has a physical impairment.
What ensued was 100 metres of the most exhilarating freestyle you will ever see as Leary, who has an intellectual impairment, mowed down van Hofweegen in the last lap to touch the wall first.
Leary looked as shocked as anyone given the ground she had to make up and celebrated wildly when teammates told her she had pulled off mission impossible. It brought back memories of Ian Thorpe coming over the top of American villain Gary Hall Jnr in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay on day one of the Sydney Olympics.
“I was like, ‘I’m just going to have to do it myself.’ We need to take the gold,” Leary said afterwards.
“I knew I had to catch [van Hofweegen]I’m going to have to overtake him. I could see him and I was like, ‘I just have to take this win.’ I just had to. I caught him. I just had to. We have the best team ever.”
