A “numb” Jaryd Clifford is reeling from the heartache of being told his Paralympics bronze medal had been snatched away from him after the 5000m runner was disqualified for a breach of rules.
Clifford crossed the line in third place in the men’s T13 final at the Stade de France on Saturday.
But his ecstasy quickly turned to agony when the visually impaired runner was told by officials he had been disqualified for dropping the tether which linked him to guide Matt Clarke as he crossed the line.
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Clifford, the only runner in the race to use a guide, was visibly distraught while speaking to reporters after hearing his bronze had been taken away from him.
The 25-year-old had hoped to appeal but he was told by the International Paralympic Committee he had no grounds to challenge their verdict.
“I went and saw mum and dad and my girlfriend and broke down,” Clifford said.
“I had my little cry on the side of the track.
“If you talk about reacting to results as grief, I had my grieving moment.
“Out on the track, I was a little bit numb, I’m still a bit numb … I am pretty shattered, to be honest, if I’m frank about it, we went in with the aim of winning gold.”
While Clifford was initially unsure of the breach, the replay clearly showed the runner dropping the tether just before the line.
“You’ve got to hold the tether all the way through to the line, and it’s pretty clear it’s not in the hands of both athletes,” Nine commentator David Culbert said.
“In fact, it looks like Jaryd’s let it go just before the line there.”
Clifford’s devastation was plain to see and the sense of near-misses was a theme throughout a dramatic first hour at the athletics track.
As Clifford was seeking answers, Madison de Rozario finished with a bronze in the women’s T54 5000m final.
De Rozario said a restarted race knocked her out of sync as she ended up finishing behind American Susannah Scaroni and Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner.
“(My start) really came together perfectly and then I had this a bit of a shock when I heard the guns go again and to know they were calling back,” de Rozario said.
“It was a bit daunting. I wasn’t sure what that (my second start) was going to look like but I’m happy.”
The medal was the 30-year-old’s seventh Paralympic medal with her attention now turning to the 1500m and the marathon.
Soon after Michael Roeger, competing in the men’s T46 1500m, was pipped by Russian athlete Aleksandr Iaremchuk on the final stretch and claimed a silver.
– With Ben Sutton