16 Sep 2008

AIS scholarship holder Heath Francis became Australia’s version of Usain Bolt after claiming his third gold medal of the Paralympic Games in the men’s amputee class 100m sprint.

Francis beat Papua New Guinea’s Francis Kompaon and Brazil’s Yohansson Nascimento to win in a personal best time of 11.05 seconds.

He had already won gold in the 200m and 400m.

There was confusion at the finish line when Kompaon began celebrating believing that he had won gold.

“I had to wait for the result to come through, although as an athlete you have a feeling if you’ve won and I was always confident,” Francis said.

Having already won two gold medals, Francis had his opposition heading into the 100m final.

“My coach was saying that my opposition were worried about me and that all I had to do was run my race,” Francis said.

“I got out well and felt myself go past the other guys.”

“I can’t believe I got there. This medal was always going to take a little bit of luck.”

Francis once again paid tribute to his AIS coach Iryna Dovoskina.

“She has been absolutely fantastic in ensuring my preparation has been spot on,” Francis said.

“I could never have achieved what I have in Beijing without Iryna.”