Sors Wins Swimming Gold With Records In Beijing Paralympics

Sors (16) made it to the finals in the Men's 100m Butterfly - S9 Heat 1 with a new world record of 59.38, and breaking both his own world record and the Paralympic record, he claimed gold at 59.34. 

“I cannot believe I won," Sors said after standing on top of the podium with a gold medal around his neck. “When I reached the finish I didn't know whether I came in first or second. I took my goggles off slowly to see what the board says. As soon as I saw the result I was overwhelmed with unbelievable happiness. But I have four races ahead of me so I won't celebrate too much."

Sors will also compete in 100m Freestyle - S9 (Heat 1 and Final on 8 Sep), 400m Freestlyle - S9 (12 Sep) and 50m Freestyle - S9 (14 Sep).
33 Hungarian athletes qualified for the 2008 Paralympics.
Table tennis:
Dezsõ Bereczki, Gyula Zborai, András Csonka
Boccia:
Dezsõ Béres, József Gyurkota
Judo:
Gábor Vincze, Gábor Papp, Nikolett Szabó
Powerlifting:
Sándor Sas, Csaba Szávai
Rowing:
Tibor Serényi
Shooting:
Gyula Gurisatti
Wheelchair Tennis:
László Farkas, Csaba Prohászka
Swimming:
Ervin Kovács, Diana Zámbó, Gitta Ráczkó, János Becsey, Zsolt Vereczkei, Katalin Engelhardt, Dorottya Baka, Fanni Illés, Tamás Sors, Zoltán Bencsura, Ferenc Csuri
Sailing:
Zoltán Pegán
Wheelchair Fencing:
Zsuzsanna Krajnyák, Gyöngyi Dani, Veronika Juhász, Judit Pálfi, Pál Szekeres, Gyula Mató, Gábor Horváth

Szekeres is the only one in the world, who won medals at both Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency last week, Szekeres said his goal is to win a gold medal at the Beiijng Paralypic Games.

Szekeres (44) had been a member of the Hungarian Fencing Team and earned a bronze medal in Olympic Team Foil in 1988 in Seoul.

He wanted to be a fencing coach after finishing his player's career, but a bus accident in 1991 broke his dreams and changed his life. He is unable to stand up since the accident.

Szekeres is the most successful Paralympic athlete in Hungary. He won a gold medal in foil at Barcelona Paralympic Games in 1992, and earned two gold medals at Atlanta Paralympic Games in 1996.

He said the secret of his success was “diligence and talent", but stressed that these can be turned into results “only if one works a lot with endurance".

While Szerekes believes he now fences better than in 1992 or 1996, he said winning would not be easy, “because my opponents have become very strong." He noted that the Chinese wheelchair fencing team and Chinese Hong Kong Team could take away eight gold medals out of the ten golds in fencing.

Szekeres, who spent six weeks in training capms in the past two months with two practice sessions a day, will will take part in foil competitions at the Beijing Paralympic Games. "I have the chance to win in foil, but eight other players also have chances to win," he said.

Szekeres ranks third in the world wheelchair fencing rankings, but he said he didn't go to every World Cup tournament this year, because his goal is not to win every tournament.

Fencing is only part of his life. Szekeres earned two diplomas, one from Hungarian Sports College in 1992, another from Budapest College of Foreign Trade in 1997.

Szekeres said these diplomas help a lot in his work. Now he runs a rehab and medical apparatuses company and holds the post of Chairman of the Hungarian Sports Federation for the Disabled."

Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal