Delana won the gold in the men's high jump F42, giving Fiji its first ever Paralympic or Olympic medal. It was only the second ever Paralympic medal (and the first gold) won by an athlete from a Pacific Island nation, following Francis Kompaon's silver in sprinting for Papua New Guinea in 2008.[6]
Iliesa Delana, a left leg amputee,[7] qualified to compete in the men's high jump, F42 category (for lower limb amputees[8]). Delana was the opening ceremonies flag bearer for Fiji.[9] He had emerged as the "world number two" in his sport and category during qualifiers, giving his country hopes for its first ever Paralympic medal.[10][11][12] He won gold, with a jump of 1.74 metres, an Oceania regional record. Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda of India and Lukasz Mamczarz of Poland also cleared 1.74 metres, but while Delana cleared both 1.71m and 1.74m on his first attempt, Nagarajegowda took two attempts on 1.71, while Mamczarz only cleared 1.74 on his third attempt.[7][13]
Lusiana Rogoimuri qualified (B standard) to compete in the women's 100m and 200m, T36 category; she has cerebral palsy.[14][15] On 1 August, however, less than a month before the Games, she was "rushed to hospital" in a "critical condition" after a car accident.[16] She was discharged from the hospital on 21 August, but ordered to rest, and had to withdraw from the Games.[3]
Natalie du Toit OIG MBE is a South African swimmer. She is best known for the gold medals she won at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. She was one of two Paralympians to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; the other being table tennis player Natalia Partyka. Du Toit became the third amputee ever to qualify for the Olympics, where she placed 16th in the 10km swim.
Wojtek Czyz is a German Para-badminton player representing New Zealand and former track and field athlete from the Polish part of Silesia.
Benoit Huot is a Canadian Paralympic swimmer, who has won nine Paralympic Games gold medals for Canada, primarily in the freestyle and butterfly strokes.
Daniel Brian Crates is a British former athlete, who specialised in 800m. He is a former Paralympic world record holder in this event, and won gold medals in a number of international competitions, including the Paralympic Games, European Championships and World Championships. He also plays competitive rugby and is a qualified diving instructor.
Fiji competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. The country's delegation consisted of a single athlete, visually impaired sprinter Ranjesh Prakash, who competed in two events in athletics. Prakash was also his country's flagbearer during the Games' opening ceremony.
Fiji first competed at the Summer Paralympic Games in 1964, sending a single athlete to compete in weightlifting, then missed out on two consecutive Games before returning in 1976, with a larger delegation of eight competitors in swimming and athletics. The country was then absent for four more consecutive Games, returning to the Paralympics in 1996 with two competitors in athletics. Fiji has participated in every subsequent edition of the Summer Games.
Francis Kompaon is a T46 Papua New Guinean athlete.
Haider Ali is an all-around Pakistani para-athlete who created history at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China by winning Pakistan's first ever Paralympic games medal, a silver. He also shared a new world record with his jump of 6.44 meters at the Games. He has competed at the Paralympics on five occasions in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024. He has the unique record of winning a country's first ever Paralympic gold, silver and bronze medals as he is the only Pakistani to have won a medal in Paralympic history. On 3 September 2021, he became the first gold medalist for Pakistan at the Paralympics. In the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships, he became the first Pakistani Para athlete to win a medal at the World Para Athletics Championships, a silver.
John Desmond Eden is a leg-amputee athlete and Australian and New Zealand Paralympian.
New Zealand competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012. The country won 17 medals in total, including six gold medals, and finished twenty-first on the medals table.
Samoa participated in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from August 29 to September 9.
Tonga participated in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from August 29 to September 9, 2012. Their participation marked their fourth consecutive Summer Paralympics appearance since their début at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney. Tonga was represented by the Tonga National Paralympic Committee, and was one of the 45 participating countries that sent only a single athlete. Tonga has always sent only a single athlete from Sydney 2000 to London 2012. Tonga National Paralympic Committee sent a delegation of three people, including one athlete. The sole athlete to represent the nation was ʻAloʻalo Liku, who participated in javelin and discus throw. Liku was the country's flag-bearer during the Games' opening ceremony. Tonga did not win a medal at these Games, however Liku finished with seasonal bests in both the events.
Vanuatu is participating in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from August 29 to September 9, 2012. The country initially hoped to send athletes to compete in wheelchair tennis and track and field. Ultimately, however, its delegation was to consist in only one athlete, Marcel Houssimoli, in three sprinting events. He was the country's flag-bearer during the Games' opening ceremony.
India competed in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London from 29 August to 9 September 2012. The nation made its official debut at the 1968 Summer Paralympics and has appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since 1984. This was India's 10th appearance at the Summer Paralympics. The Indian contingent consisted of ten athletes competing across four sports in the Paralympic Games. India won one silver medal in the competition.
Iliesa Delana is a Fijian politician and Paralympic high jumper who has been Member of the Parliament of Fiji and Cabinet Minister since 17 September 2014. He was the first Fijian athlete to win a medal, gold in high jump, for Fiji at the Paralympics.
Markus Rehm is a German Paralympic athlete, and in the long jump has won four Paralympic, six world and five European titles. He began in sports at age 20 and became a long jump F44 world champion in 2011. His club is TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen and he is a medical specialist. Rehm is nicknamed "The Blade Jumper", as he is a long jumper with a blade-type leg prosthesis. Rehm's right leg was amputated below the knee after a wakeboarding accident. He uses a carbon-fibre bladed prosthesis, from which he jumps off.
Helgi Sveinsson is a Paralympian athlete from Iceland competing in throwing, sprint and jumping events. He is a F42/T42 category athlete. At the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships he threw a competition record to take the gold medal.
Łukasz Maciej Mamczarz is a Polish Paralympic athlete who competes in F42 classification high jump events.
Manolis Stefanoudakis is a Paralympian athlete from Greece who competes in category F54 throwing events. He won a bronze and a gold medal in the javelin throw at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics, respectively.
Indonesia competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan. Originally scheduled to take place in 2020, the Games were rescheduled for 24 August to 5 September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
