“I feel great. It was all about winning the gold medal. My third Paralympic Games, my third (long jump) gold medal. “It’s great to be able to bring it back and celebrate with my beloved people back home.”
The 33-year-old German star made his best jump on his fifth attempt to secure his third consecutive long jump title with no one challenging the world record holder during competition at the Olympic Stadium.
Whilst he was aiming to break his world record of 8.62m, which he set in Bydoszcz, Poland in June this year, it was enough for him to claim gold as the only competitor to break the 8m-mark.
“It was in my mind. But I made the pressure mostly on myself.
“I knew the track was really fast and you could jump long distances, but, unfortunately, it didn’t work out for me like I expected.
“To jump 8.18 (metres) is not too bad I think, but I aimed for a bit longer jump. But that’s sport. Today was about the gold. “Maybe we can attack the 8.62m (para world record) another time.”
France’s Dimitri Pavade claimed silver after a jump of 7.39m on his second attempt whilst USA’s Trenten Merrill took the bronze with 7.08m, an area record.