Golden girl Rivard leads Parapan swimmers
It was another golden day for Canada in the pool.
Aurelie Rivard won two gold medals on Monday as the host nation earned 14 total swimming medals at the Parapan American Games.
The Canadians are second in the gold and overall medal counts after Day 3 with 20 gold and 61 overall — 40 of which are swimming medals.
Brazil leads both medal tables with 39 gold and 94 overall.
Rivard, of St- Jean- sur- Richelieu, Que., won the S10 100- metre butterfly and the 50 freestyle, both in Parapan Am record times.
She swam the butterfly in one minute, 10.00 seconds with Saskatoon's Samantha Ryan finishing second. Rivard ended the evening winning the freestyle in 27.90 seconds.
“It's the first time I get to race two events in a major competition in the same night,” said Rivard, who was born without her left hand. “I'm happy the way it turned out.”
Nathan Stein of Maple Ridge, B. C., won a silver in the S10 100 freestyle with Alec Elliot, of Kitchener, Ont., finishing in third. Stein also won bronze in the 50 freestyle.
Canada also had one- two finishes in the women's S7 50 freestyle and the men's S14 100 backstroke.
Tess Routliffe, of Caledon, Ont., won the S7 50 in a Parapan record 34.55 seconds while Montreal's Sarah Mehain took silver. Gordie Michie, of St. Thomas, Ont., won the S14 100 backstroke with Adam Rahier, of Surrey, B. C., coming in second.
Montreal's Jean- Michel Lavalliere fought back tears on the podium while collecting the silver he won in the S7 50 freestyle.
“Ten years ago I was at Canada Games and I DQed four times out of six,” said Lavalliere, who has cerebral palsy.
“Coming in here, I was thinking about that and how much I've evolved as an athlete but also as a person, too. I am really proud of that.”
Jason Dunkerley won Canada's first track and field medal with a gold in the men's 5,000- metre T11 event. The visually impaired runner from Ottawa finishing with his guide Josh Karanja in a Gamesrecord time of 15 minutes 39.54 seconds.
“We started off with a consistent pace ... we were able to open up a gap,” said Dunkerley.
“We faced the top two contenders in this race for next year, so this was a good way for us to know how to beat them in the future.”
Josh Cassidy of Port Elgin, Ont., also raced his way to the podium on Day 1 of the track meet at the CIBC Pan Am/ Parapan Am Athletics Stadium, taking silver in the men's 5,000 T54 race. He finished second to American Daniel Romanchuk in 11: 44.92.
There was more gold at the velodrome as visually impaired cyclist Daniel Chalifour of Mont- Laurier, Que., along with guide Alexandre Cloutier, won the mixed individual pursuit ahead of Colombia and Brazil.
Karen Van Nest of Wiarton, Ont., settled for silver in women's archery, blaming jitters in front of the home crowd for costing her gold.
Jane Karla Gogel of Brazil edged Van Nest 140- 132.
The Canadian, who was slow to join sports after a motorcycle accident in 1985 left her an amputee, said the exposure Paralympic sport is getting in Toronto is a victory in itself.
“I'm hoping any televised parasport encourages anyone in a chair, or anyone, whatever their disability, to get out and try sport,” Van Nest said.
LOCAL NOTABLES: Calgary's Christian Daniel placed sixth in the men's swimming 50- metre freestyle ( S6), finishing in 38.27 ... Red Deer's Tammy Cunnington placed fifth in the women's swimming 50 butterfly ( S51/ 2S1- 53/ 4), finishing in 58.08 ... Canada's men's wheelchair basketball team, which includes Calgary's Chad Jassman and Blackfalds' Peter Won, improved to 2- 0 with a 74- 55 win over Mexico ... Canada's wheelchair rugby team, which includes Zak Madell of Okotoks, improved to 3- 0 with a 73- 26 win over Argentina.