Michael Johnston. Photo / The Aucklander
Aucklander Michael Johnson last night won a shooting bronze medal for New Zealand at the last possible moment in a controversial 10m standing rifle competition at the Beijing Paralympics.
Johnson nearly missed qualifying for the finals after inexperienced judges took exception to his stance in his wheelchair. However
Johnson proved to know the rule book better than the judges and managed a place in the finals in seventh after pointing out his stance was perfectly legal as per the rule book.
"I just wanted to take out all my anger and frustration at the judges in the finals," he said.
With the consistent Korean Ji-Seok Lee winning the event on a score of 704.3, followed by Frenchman Raphael Voltz on 703.5, Johnson found himself equal with Korea's Ho-Gyoung You on 701.2 after the 10-shot final.
A shoot-off was required for the bronze medal. The Korean shot first and scored 10.2. Johnson took his time and shot 10.6 before raising his arms in the air in jubilation.
New Zealand now has a total of six medals - two gold, two silver and two bronze. New Zealand athlete Tim Prendergast missed out on a 5000m medal in dramatic circumstances yesterday.
Team captain Prendergast, a gold medallist in the 800m at the Athens Games four years ago, crawled across the finish line in fourth place after a harrowing collapse.
He was fourth coming into the home stretch when his arms were starting to flail.
He stumbled down the straight and collapsed with less than 20m remaining. He got up and then virtually crawled the last steps across the line before again collapsing. The 29-year-old, who has 5 per cent vision, was stretchered from the track.
- NZPA, AP
