By BBC Sport's Tony Garrett
Great Britain's Paralympic athletes returned from Sydney having officially become one of the greatest British multi-sport teams of all time.
The victorious team of 214 British athletes finished second in the medal table at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games with a total of 41 golds, 43 silvers and 47 bronze medals - ahead of USA, China, Spain and Canada and they were surpassed only by the host nation Australia.
Britain competed in a total of 16 sports and medalled in 10 of them, ending the 11 days of record-breaking competition with a total of 131 medals.
With so much sport to savour in 11 days of glory it is difficult to pick out the highlights. Pride of place, though, must go to Tanni Grey-Thompson who repeated her Barcelona feat of four wheelchair racing gold medals.
Bob Matthews provided Britain with its first gold of the Games in the men's T11 10,000m and on the closing day he won silver in the marathon.
Caroline Innes won two more sprint golds - before announcing her retirement and Hazel Robson also won gold in the 100m.
However, it is the young guns that look set to blast the GB Paralympic team into the new millennium. Lloyd Upsdell and Deborah Brennan were the teenage sensations on the track. Upsdell, still only 17, won gold at 100m and 200m T35 - in world record times. Brennan won gold in the 200m in a world record time.
Sally Reddin overcame being hospitalised for eight days on the Gold Coast to win gold in the shot put. Golds also came from Christopher Martin and Ken Churchill in field events backed by a cast of silver and bronze medallists.
At the Sydney Aquatic Swimming Centre some new names emerged. The most prominent amongst them were Welshman David Roberts, Nottingham's James Crisp and Bath's Sascha Kindred. All three won two individual gold medals. Proud Scottish Opening Ceremony flag bearer Maggie McEleny won gold in the 50m breastroke SB3. There were golds also for Vicki Broadribb, Emily Jennings, Giles Long, Melanie Easter and Jody Cundy.
Sydney 2000 unearthed a plethora of other GB stars outside the track and swim squads. Lee Pearson, the first male Paralympic equestrian competitor, won three golds. Isabel Newstead won gold in shooting. Britain's female archers returned home the proud owners of one gold and two silvers between them. Emma Brown and Anthony Peddle wwere victorious in powerlifting.
For judo there was the disappointment of seeing Simon Jackson, unbeaten since 1987, outpointed by a Cuban in the semi-final of the 81kg class. The cycling team had a good Games, with Rob Allen and pilot Andy Slater taking silver in the men's 1km tandem time trail and Thomas Evans was second in his category of road race.
For the British basketball supporters with high blood pressure, the Super Dome should have been avoided. The GB men's team provided relentless high drama, especially when playing the USA. In the second match, the USA won in the final seconds with a speculative long shot, the score 57-54 to the Americans.
The tennis squad continued to improve their world rankings, but despite some fine performances by Kimberley Dell in the singles and Simon Hatt/Jayant Mistry in the doubles, they finished just outside the medals. Table tennis yielded a silver for James Rawson and Neil Robinson in the team event.
back to top
