Patterson's 'bittersweet' feeling after beating idol
Australia has won its first gold medal at the Rio Paralympics and it came in style with swimmer Lakeisha Patterson breaking the world record in her 400m freestyle final.
Began his full-time career at The Age as an online sports reporter in 1999 before joining Sportal as the Deputy Editor of the AFL-Telstra online network in 2002. Rejoined the online desk at The Age in 2006 and was online sports editor between 2006 and 2016. Has covered two Olympics (Sydney 2000 and London 2012), numerous Australian Open tennis tournaments and several AFL grand finals. Reads the back page first. Hack golfer. Wannabe tennis star.
Australia has won its first gold medal at the Rio Paralympics and it came in style with swimmer Lakeisha Patterson breaking the world record in her 400m freestyle final.
This Paralympics was always going to be a different beast for Daniela Di Toro. A co-captain of the Australian team, the wheelchair tennis legend has also swapped her tennis racquet for a table tennis bat.
Swimming, racing and tennis - the Australian athletes to watch on day two of the Games.
Jessica Gallagher used to go flying down a snow-covered mountainside at more than 100km/h, receiving directions in an earpiece. Now she has switched to the relative 'safety' of the velodrome and a tandem bike.
It's not quite the elephant in the room in Rio but the International Paralympic Committee's blanket ban on the Russian team was not lost on one athlete during the opening ceremony.
The heartache of finishing second to Canada in London four years ago will drive Australia's men's wheelchair basketball team as they begin their redemption campaign on day one of the Rio Paralympics.
Entering his final Paralympics as a co-captain of the Australian team, veteran wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley found words of support for one of his Russian foes, who will be missing from Rio.
Australia's men's basketball wheelchair captain Brad Ness has been granted the honour of becoming the nation's flagbearer at the Rio Paralympics opening ceremony.
Marieke Vervoort has already declared the Rio Paralympics will be her last. But this is no ordinary farewell from sport for a top-line athlete.
These are the first Paralympics staged in South America and they are also the biggest ever. Rio de Janeiro will play host to 11 days of competition between September 8-18.
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