Canadian teen sets world record
The tears flowed well before
O Canada played Friday.
Danielle Dorris captured a gold medal in the 50-metre butterfly at the Tokyo Paralympics in spectacular fashion, breaking the world record twice.
Moments before her medal ceremony, the 18-year-old from Moncton, N.B., called longtime coach Ryan Allen down from the Tokyo Aquatics Centre stands. She asked him to be the one to present her medal.
“He started tearing up,” Dorris said, smiling. “Having him here was very special. That already got me crying, so during the anthem I was just a ball of tears.”
Dorris touched the wall in 32.99 seconds for her second medal in Tokyo. She also won silver in the 100 backstroke.
Canadian sprinter Marissa Papaconstantinou captured bronze in the women’s 100 metres to give Canada 20 medals with two days of competition remaining.
Swim star Aurelie Rivard just missed the medal podium in her final race in Tokyo, finishing fourth in the 200 individual medley. The 25-year-old from SaintJean-sur-Richelieu, Que., heads home with five medals — two gold, a silver and two bronze — for a career total of 10.
It was a solid finish for a strong swim team that won eight medals at the Paralympics, a month after Canada’s Olympic swimmers claimed six medals.
Dorris, who was born with underdeveloped arms, was spotted by Janet Dunn, Canada’s Para-swimming performance pathway coach, when she was 11. Dunn paired Dorris with coach Allen. “It was very eye-popping immediately that Janet saw something and knew [how good Dorris could be],” Allen said.
Two years later, at the
Rio Games, Dorris became the youngest swimmer ever on a Canadian Paralympic team.
“On this trip, kind of as a thank you, I said to Janet that I remembered standing on the deck when she told me about this kid,” Dorris said.
Allen was thrilled when Dorris asked him to present her medal. “I honestly had to turn around and look the other way,” Allen said. “Because it was emotional. Just to share that with her is extremely cool.”