2008 Paralympic Games update

The Paralympic Games are now in full swing in Beijing, China. Apologies from SNZ for not sending this communication earlier.
Congratulations to Sophie Pascoe in winning her 2 gold and silver medals over the past few days. Keep an eye out for the following swimmers in action over the next few days Daniel Sharp in the 100 Breaststroke on Saturday and 50 Breaststroke on Monday and Cameron in the 100 IM on Sunday. The Full Team schedule is here.<http://www.swimmingnz.org.nz/uploads/files/Paralympic_Schedule_For_Beijing_2008.pdf>
Messages of support can be sent to the New Zealand Paralympic Games Team by emailing nzteam@paralympics.org.nz , come on and get behind your team!
Coverage details of the Paralympic Games are shown below...
The Paralympics New Zealand homepage here<http://www.swimmingnz.org.nz/competition/competition-calendar/2008/www.paralympics.org.nz> This will be kept up-to-date with the latest news from Beijing.
The "Eyes of Beijing" site. http://beijing.sparc.org.nz/
You can also down load the Paralympic tracker from here which will bring results and information about upcoming events for the New Zealand Team right to your desktop.
TVNZ have a Paralympics mini site <http://tvnz.co.nz/view/sport_minisite_index_skin/sport_paralympics_minisite_group%20%20> This site has news, and video from the games that can be accessed via TVNZ ondemand. ONE Sport will provide a daily package of highlights from throughout the event, screening on both TV ONE (11pm daily) and TVNZ 7 (4:10pm daily). These packages will also be available online at TVNZ ondemand.

Note from Paralympics
Thank you for your support of the New Zealand Paralympic Games Team.
GO THE KIWIS!!

Sophie Pascoe wins Gold

Christchurch swimmer Sophie Pascoe has won gold in the pool at the Beijing Paralympics with a spectacular swim which left all others in her wake in the 100m breaststroke.

The 15-year-old was in contention in the first lap and then at the turn swam away from her rivals with a personal best time of 1 minute 22.58 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of second places Sarai Gascon of Spain in 1 minute 24.51 seconds with Lousie Watkin of (Greg Britain) in third in a time of 1 minute 26.10 seconds.

"It was very tough. I didn't know where the other girls were, but I went out there and gave it my all and it got me the gold. I'm rapt. My main goal for this race was just to bring it home. Just to focus on myself and on the race. I'm overwhelmed with what I have achieved," she said. "This morning for the heats I was bloody nervous. Tonight I just wanted to give it my all. Tonight I was nervous but it didn't matter."

It is the second medal for Pascoe after winning a silver in the 100m butterfly earlier in the week. However this medal was more special than ever as she dedicated the gold to her grandfather.

"My grandfather passed away four years ago and I said to him 'I will go to Beijing (2008 Paralympic Games) and win a gold medal for you.' I gave it my best and I got him the gold. We spent much time together and I loved him so much," said the Lincoln High School student.

New Zealand now has a total of five medals - two golds, two silver and one bronze.