Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: Lisbeli Vera won the first silver medal for Venezuela

• The athlete took second place in the 400-meter final

Venezuelan athlete Lisbeli Vera won the silver medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games after finishing second in the final of the 400-meter flat event in the T47 category. In the competition, which took place on Saturday, August 31, the Venezuelan athlete recorded a time of 56.78.

Brazilian Fernanda Yara da Silva won the gold medal with a time of 56.74. Maria Clara Augusto took the bronze with 57.20. The T47 category corresponds to athletes with limited mobility or absence of upper extremities.

This is the first medal for the Venezuelan delegation at the Paralympic Games, which formally began on August 29. With this result, it occupies 43rd place in the medal table, which until now has been dominated by China with 42 medals (20 gold, 15 silver and 7 bronze); the United Kingdom, with 25 medals (11 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze); and Brazil, with 23 (8 gold, 3 silver and 12 bronze).

Second diploma

Yomaria Cohen. Photo: courtesy of Líder

On August 31, the final of the women’s shot put F37 category, for athletes with moderately limited coordination and movement on one side of the body, was held. Venezuelan Yomaira Cohen obtained a Paralympic diploma there by finishing sixth with a distance of 10.67 meters. China’s Li Yingli and Mi Na took gold and silver respectively, while Russia’s Irina Vertinskaya (participating as a neutral due to the veto of her country’s delegation) won bronze.

The 41-year-old from Zulia finished in exactly the same position when she competed in Tokyo 2020. In her Paralympic debut at the London 2012 games, she also finished fifth, but in the javelin throw category, and seventh in the discus throw.

This is the second diploma for Venezuela in this edition. On August 30, Franyeli Vargas placed seventh in the women’s long jump class T11 (athletes with total visual impairment). She had a record of 4.18 meters in her last attempt on the track.

How many Venezuelans participate in the Paralympic Games?

Photo: courtesy of the Ministry of Youth and Sports

A total of 25 Venezuelan Paralympic athletes qualified for this competition. The Venezuelan Paralympic Committee (Copaven) detailed on its Instagram account that 70% of the delegation are female athletes, with 17 participants, while eight are male.

This is the second silver medal that Vera has won in the 400-meter T47 category. The 22-year-old from Merida made history at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, as she became the first Venezuelan athlete to win three medals in different categories. In addition to the silver she won on that occasion, she took home two gold medals in the 100-meter T47 and 200-meter T47.

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