London 2012 Paralympics: Bethany Woodward and David Devine take athletes past Beijing medal haul

 
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6 September 2012

Bethany Woodward and David Devine both claimed their second medals in the space of two days as Great Britain's athletes swept past their Beijing haul.

Sprinter Woodward, who has cerebral palsy, claimed silver in the T37 200 metres to go with her relay bronze, while Devine, who has a visual impairment, added 800m bronze to his third-place finish in the 1500m.

It raised the hosts' Olympic Stadium medal tally to 18 on the sixth day of competition, one more than they managed four years ago.

Nineteen-year-old Woodward was strong in the home straight to see off the challenge of Maria Seifert, finishing in 29.65 seconds, 0.21secs ahead of the German.

Woodward told Channel 4: "I was completely full of lactic [acid], just trying to dip because I could feel everyone there and I was like, 'I've go to learn how to dip'.

"I had to wait for it to come up on the board to realise I'd got the silver."

One of the biggest challenges for athletes with cerebral palsy maintaining their form while running.

"It's extremely difficult," said Woodward. "Your body's doing one thing and your brain's trying to tell it to do another. It's like a brick wall that you have to break through to get it done.

"When I watch it back it's like we're in slow motion with our CP (cerebral palsy) side. It's really tough."

Team-mate Jenny McLoughlin was fifth.

Devine had a nervous wait to see whether he had got a medal after a photo finish to the 800m final.

The Liverpool athlete looked well out of contention in the four-strong T12 race coming off the final bend, but came storming down the home straight to snatch a medal by 0.04s.

The 20-year-old, who has a visual impairment, reeled in Cuban Lazaro Rashid to just pip him on the line.

Neither athletes nor crowd knew who had got there and the result seemed to take an age to come up on the big screen, but the huge roar which greeted it told the story.

Devine, whose time was 1:58.72, said: "I had to go up to an official to find out where I'd come. When he told me, I was made up.

"My legs felt so heavy. I couldn't get going at all, so to have won a medal, I'm made up.

"I would have gone faster if I'd just had another day to prepare for this race.

"I don't do enough speed work to expect to be so successful in the 800m, so I was delighted to get a medal."

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