Enderson Santos won the first gold medal for Venezuela

• The Venezuelan reached the first position in the final of the 400 meters of the T11 category

Venezuelan Enderson Santos won the country’s first gold medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on Sunday, September 1. He took first place in the final of the 400-meter flat event in the T11 category with a time of 50.58.

The silver medal went to Frenchman Timohée Adolphe, with a time of 50.75, while the bronze went to Cameroonian Guillaume Junior Tangana, for the Paralympic refugee team. The T11 category corresponds to those athletes with almost total visual impairment.

This is a personal best for the 37-year-old, who earns his first Paralympic medal after being eliminated in Heat 1 at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Guided by Eubrig Maza, he performed well in the first half, reaching the semi-final where he qualified in second place with a time of 51.71.

Performance

This is Venezuela’s first gold medal at the Games and its second after Lisbeli Vera won a silver medal after finishing second in the final of the 400-meter flat event in the T47 category.

Likewise, the Creole delegation has two Paralympic diplomas to date. The first for Yomaira Cohen, who placed sixth on August 31 in the women’s shot put F37 category. A day earlier, Franyeli Vargas placed seventh in the women’s long jump T11.

With this performance, Venezuela currently occupies the 32nd place in the medal table, which is led by China with 71 medals (33 gold, 27 silver and 11 bronze). It is followed by the United Kingdom with 43 medals (23 gold, 12 silver and 8 bronze), while the United States surpassed Brazil and now occupies the third place with 27 medals (8 gold, 11 silver and 8 bronze).

Calendar

In other categories, Venezuelan Roberto Quijada defeated Czech Petr Svatos 3-0 in the round of 16 of the men’s individual table tennis class 3 (wheelchair players). With this, he advances to the next round to be played on September 2 against Chinese Zhai Xiang.

The final of the PTS2 women’s individual triathlon will also be held that day, in which Venezuelan Emma Rodríguez qualified. This category is for athletes with severe physical disabilities who compete on foot.

Alejandra Paola Pérez, who won the bronze medal at Tokyo 2020, will compete in round 1 of the 400-meter flat race, T12 class, for athletes with severe visual impairment and limited visual field. Her sister, Linda Pérez, will also compete in round 1 of the 100-meter flat race T11.

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