After a busy weekend, the eighth day of Athletics at the National Stadium (September 15) will have only seven medal events scheduled. Tetyana Yakybchuk of Ukraine, Arnaud Assoumani of France and Huang Lisha of China aim for their second gold medals while Heath Francis of Australia will be looking for his third.
The day will begin with Men's Javelin F33/34/52 and Men's Long Jump F11. The Long Jump has all three medal winners from the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games: Li Duan of China who took gold, Lex Gillette of United States who won silver and Sergei Sevostyanov of Russia who got bronze.
In the Women's Shot Put F32-34/52/53, watch out for world records holders, Greece' Maria Stamatoula (F32 record- 5.67 meters), Ukraine's Yakybchuk (F33 record - 6.50m) and Germany's Birgit Pohl (F34 record - 8.80m).
The Men's Shot Put F40 will feature Germany's Mathias Mester who holds the world record of 10.46 meters. He will be joined by teammate Lutz Langer, silver medalist at Athens 2004, and Marek Margoc of Slovakia, Athens gold medal winner.
Another record holder, Yang Yue of China in the Women's Discus F42/46, who missed out on medals at the last Paralympic Games, holds the F44 world record with a throw of 41.41m in Croatia. Taking their turns on the same field will be gold, silver and bronze medalists at the Athens 2004 Paralympics, Zheng Baozhu of China, Claudia Biene of Germany and Jelena Vukovic of Croatia.
On the track, look out for Francis in the Men's 100m T46 on his quest for his third gold medal, the first two from the 200m and 400m T46. France's Assoumani, Men's Long Jump F46 champion and world record (7.23m) holder, will be close behind, aiming for his second gold.
The Women's 200m T53 will feature China's speed queens Zhou Hongzhuan, silver medalist in Women's 400 T53, and Huang Lisha, gold medalist and world record (16.22 seconds) holder in Women's 100 T53.
(BOCOG September 14, 2008)