Tai takes fifth medal as Clegg caps golden finish to GB’s swimming campaign in Paris

The final day of Paralympic swimming action in Paris saw Alice Tai win her fifth medal of the competition before Stephen Clegg ensured Great Britain ended on a golden high.

Those two triumphs resulted in a total of 32 medals won by Paralympics GB in the pool – 18 gold, eight silver and six bronze.

In the para-swimming medal table, Great Britain finish in second behind the People’s Republic of China.

On day 10, and at a Games where she had already secured two golds, one silver and one bronze, Tai pushed for more medal glory in the French capital.

After going out strong, as she has in all of her races in Paris, the Ealing swimmer found herself ahead with just five metres to go in the Women’s 100m Butterfly S8 final.

But after a busy schedule of events, the 25-year-old struggled down the final few metres and admitted that ‘the week caught up with me’.

However, Tai dug deep and was able to hold on to a podium place as she touched the wall in a time of 1:13.60 to earn another bronze medal.

That result made it five medals from five events at these Games and an overall total of seven Paralympic medals to her name.

She finished ahead of her Paralympics GB teammate, Brock Whiston, by the tightest of margins. Whiston finished in fourth place just 0.09 behind Tai.

I left everything in that pool

Reflecting on the race, Tai said: “That last five was rough. I’ve gone 1:09 this year, so the time wasn’t particularly good, but man am I tired!

“At the end when Jess [Long] went past me I knew the other girls were going to be close and I was just clinging on for dear life, so I’m happy with the bronze.

“I thought I was going to come like sixth in that last five metres and everyone was going to overtake me so I think maybe I went out a little bit too hard.

“Dave, my coach, was like ‘just feel the water’ and on fly that normally ends up with me going pretty fast, but I think the week’s just caught up with me a bit.

“I would’ve loved to go sub 1:10 again, but it just wasn’t the right time and I swam it the best I could.

“I thought I’d be disappointed if I didn’t win but I was so far off that I’m happy with bronze and I know I can go faster than that, but there’s a lot to work on next season.

When asked if she was happy with the week as a whole, Tai added: “Definitely! I literally said before the race, I was like, part of me just wants to stop and not do the final because I’ve done so well the rest of the week, I’m so proud of myself and I want to end on a high, I don’t want to do a swim that I know I can go faster than or be upset because I missed out on a medal.

“But now I’m in the situation I’m glad I swam it. Really happy with a bronze. I literally left everything in that pool. I don’t know how I even made it to the finish in that last five metres.

“I was watching it back after my race with Jess and it was literally the last five and then I just stopped, but I don’t think I’m going to beat myself up about it.

“I’m not particularly happy with the time but I gave it my all and I’m excited for next season. Definitely need to do a bit more fly endurance I think!”

Golden double for Clegg

Clegg ended Paralympic GB’s time at the La Defense Arena perfectly as he was crowned Paralympic champion for the second time.

He followed up his success in the Men’s 100m Backstroke S12 final with victory in the 100m Butterfly S12 final.

Adding his two golds in Paris to his three medals in Tokyo, the 28-year-old is now a five-time Paralympic medallist.

It was a close finish in the Butterfly final, with just over half a second between first and third place.

Clegg, who is the world record holder for that event, finished outside of his record-breaking best today but was still the fastest to the wall in a time of 57.49.

On his performance, he said: “I would’ve liked to have gone a bit quicker but after the 100m Backstroke, that was incredible.

“I broke a world record [in the Backstroke] and I came here chasing that, but as soon as I got the medal around my neck I didn’t care about the record, and it’s going to be similar for this one.

“The time wasn’t amazing but I came to get the gold and I got the gold, so I can’t be too disappointed of course.

This is the reward

“I think as a teenager, I was in a really dark place and I suffered a lot with mediocrity and the ordinary and I really didn’t like the person I was as a kid.

“As an adult, as a man, I suffer with the pursuit of excellence and I think that’s why I’m always striving for more and to be better and every result I have I evaluate how it’s gone as a performance rather than just a result.

“I think it’s a harsh truth that it’s really easy to sit in your own pain and it’s not very easy to take the risk and take a chance on change.

“These last 10 years have always been about that and this is the reward for that role of the dice I took 10 years ago.

“I think a lot of people thought I was crazy when I said I wanted to come back and take a shot at being a Paralympic champion and a lot of people doubted me and laughed.

“I don’t think many people felt I had the discipline or drive to get it, but it’s nice to finally be here.”

Earlier in the session, Faye Rogers rounded off her time in Paris with a fifth place finish in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM10 final.

Rogers went a second faster than she did in the heats to record a time of 2:33.90.