London 2012 Paralympic Games - Team USA on Day 8

Results from September 6, 2012



LONDON – Team USA earned seven medals Thursday at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, raising its total to 71 medals earned in eight different sports. It was an exciting evening at the Aquatics Centre and Olympic Stadium. Swimmer Jessica Long broke her previous world record in the 100m freestyle S8 and earned her seventh medal of the Games, while Richard Browne (Jackson, Miss.) finished second in the highly anticipated matchup in the men’s 100m T44 race and Jeremy Campbell (Perrytown, Texas) won gold in the men’s discus T44.

Cycling
The cycling team continued its great performance at Brands Hatch when Allison Jones (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won her third medal, a bronze, in the women’s individual C1-3 road race. Kelly Crowley (Redwood City, Calif.) also earned a bronze in the women’s individual C 4-5 road race.

Sailing
With the final day of competition at the Paralympic Sailing Regatta cancelled due to lack of wind in Weymouth and Portland, racing results, to date, stood as final. The U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team’s Jen French (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and JP Creignou (St. Petersburg, Fla.) collected a silver medal in the SKUD-18 event (Two Person Keelboat). Final standings for Team USA include Mark LeBlanc (New Orleans, La.) 6th in the 2.4mR (One Person Keelboat) and Paul Callahan (Cape Coral, Fla.) Tom Brown (Bangor, Maine) and Bradley Johnson (Milwaukee, Wisc.) 7th in the Sonar (Three Person Keelboat).

Shooting
On the final day of the shooting competition, Eric Hollen (Colorado Springs, Colo.) had a 23rd-place finish in the 50-meter Free Pistol event after a round of 499/600.

Swimming
The U.S. swimming team added two more medals to its total on Thursday. Jessica Long (Baltimore, Md.) broke her own world record in the women’s 100m freestyle S8 while earning her fifth gold medal from these Games. She now has seven medals and is tied with Australian swimmer Jacqueline Freney for the most medals earned by an individual athlete during the 2012 Paralympic Games. Mallory Weggemann (Eagan, Minn.) narrowly missed the podium with a fourth place finish in the women’s 100m freestyle S8. Courtney Jordan (Henderson, Nev.) won a silver medal in the women’s 400m freestyle S7.

Track & Field
The highly anticipated men’s 100m T44 race which included Team USA athletes Richard Browne, Blake Leeper and Jerome Singleton, along with South African Oscar Pistorius and Britain’s own Jonnie Peacock, had 80,000 fans on their feet at Olympic stadium Thursday evening. Peacock won the gold and Browne earned silver for Team USA. Leeper came in fifth and Singleton was sixth. Jeremy Campbell (Perryton, Texas), the defending Paralympic gold medalist from the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, set a Paralympic Record and won the gold medal in the men’s T44 discus.

Men’s and Women’s Wheelchair Basketball
Both the Australian men’s and women’s teams beat their American counterparts in the semifinals of wheelchair basketball on Thursday. The U.S. men fell by a score of 72-63 in a game that was much closer than the final score represents. It was a disappointing loss for a team that was determined to avenge an earlier loss to Australia in group play. They will play in the bronze medal game on Saturday. The women’s team, the defending gold medalists from the 2004 and 2008 Paralympic Games, will also be playing for the bronze medal after a surprising 40-39 defeat in the final minute of their game.

Wheelchair Rugby
USA beat Japan 64-48 in a group A wheelchair rugby match at the Basketball Arena on Thursday. First time Paralympian Chuck Aoki (Minneapolis, Minn.) was the highest scorer with 20 points followed by captain Will Groloux (Clarksville, Tenn.) with 12 points.

Wheelchair Tennis
David Wagner (Hillsboro, Ore.) won 90% of the points on his first serve of the second set to beat doubles partner Nick Taylor (Wichita, Kansas) 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday. The win advanced Wagner to the quad singles gold medal match. The U.S. will have a chance for the bronze as well with Taylor playing Israel's Shraga Weinberg on Friday.

Videos from members of the 2012 U.S. Paralympic Team are available on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/usparalympics and we encourage you to share it on your organization websites and Facebook pages or link to it through electronic newsletters or other channels. You can pick and choose what videos to share with your audience. It’s as easy as clicking “Share” on the video and then following the instructions to embed it on a website, post it on Facebook, etc.
Additional results and stories on the 2012 U.S. Paralympic Team can be found on www.usparalympics.org

Go Team USA!

# as posted by:
U.S. Olympic Committee, Paralympic Division
1 Olympic Plaza | Colorado Springs, CO 80909
paralympicinfo@usoc.org | www.usparalympics.org