I’ve been knifed in the back, says sad Weir
DAVID WEIR cut a lonely figure as he pushed himself to the edge of the road skirting Copacabana Beach, elbow bloodied from a crash and paused for a moment before exiting the course only 5km into the marathon. He later revealed he felt ‘stabbed in the back’ by an unnamed individual from British Athletics during the fortnight he has been in Rio. It was a sad end to the Paralympic career of Britain’s greatest male wheelchair racer, who won four gold medals in a haze of glory at London 2012. An incongruous note to bring the curtain down on a Games where champions and new stars have combined to take Great Britain to second in the medal table with 64 golds, their highest tally since Seoul in 1988. Earlier this week, Weir said he felt he had let the country down after failing to win a medal in any of the three track events he won in 2012. He seemed to have found his groove on the road but crashed out after a collision with a Spanish racer. ‘It’s the first time all week I’ve felt normal,’ said Weir. ‘I just needed a breather so I went to the back and then I was going to push on. There’s a lot of chairs and someone clipped my wheel.’ The 37-year-old later suggested there had been a drama behind the scenes. ‘I’ve felt stabbed in the back a lot this week,’ said Weir. ‘We need to click as a team. I know it’s an individual sport, but there needs to be no big egos.’ While Weir fell flat in Rio, Dame Sarah Storey defended three of her four titles from London 2012 after having daughter Louisa in the intervening period. Kadeena Cox, the 25-year-old who proudly carried the Union flag at the closing ceremony last night, won sensational golds in both athletics and cycling. Then there were the two Ellies, the double act of the Aquatics Centre. Ellie Robinson a 15-yearold from Northampton with dwarfism was inspired by watching Ellie Simmonds at London 2012 and beat her to gold in the S6 50metres butterfly in Rio. Not to be outdone ‘big Ellie’ then won gold with a powerhouse swim in the 200m medley, becoming the first S6 category swimmer to break the three-minute barrier. And, of course, Gordon Reid took singles gold and doubles silver in the wheelchair tennis to cap a memorable year for the Scot.