Gold’s for my girl!
More Paralympic joy for Aled:
ALED Davies dedicated his third consecutive Paralympic gold to his one-year-old daughter – and claims he won’t quit until she sees him win another.
The Bridgend ace successfully defended his shot put gold from Rio with a 15.33m throw in the fourth round, while he also holds a discus gold from London 2012.
Davies’s daughter Phoebe turns two on September 14 and he is already looking ahead to the next Games in Paris, where he hopes to strike gold at a fourth straight Games with his family by his side.
“There’s so much emotion. It’s been a long 18 months and fiveyear cycle,” he said.
“I’ve learnt so much over the last 18 months and had to evolve and adapt and become self-sufficient almost. Throwing cage in my garden, gym in the garage, it’s so hard to win medals - the conditions, everything was against me out there.
“I wanted to put down some big throws and nothing was letting me in that slippery surface.
“I’m taking this medal home to my little girl.
“I have got to do 2024 now. I would have loved to have my family and friends watching here but it is not to be, there is a bigger picture here and we all have to get home healthy. That would be job done but I want them there in Paris 2024.”
Davies made no secret about targeting a new world record but the weather more resembled Bridgend than Tokyo.
Pouring rain drenched the Olympic Stadium and Davies’ best was 2.19m off his own world record from the 2017 World Championships in London.
However, he still finished 45 centimetres clear of Iran’s silver medallist Sajad Mohammadian, with two more of his throws would have been good enough for the win.
“I have done four or five comps this year and almost all of them have been in the rain,” he added.
“That is the beauty of being in Wales, I was really looking forward to coming here and having it boiling hot and being able to show everyone what I can do but that is the way the cookie crumbles.
“A lot of my peers probably hadn’t seen rain for a while. But we did it, we actually did it and it is surreal to think we have.”
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