He once raced sports cars at Brands Hatch but in a far cryfrom those heady days, Alessandro Zanardi now races in the Paralympics. Abrutal accident in 2001resulted in him losing both his legs but instead ofsinking into depression he turned his life around. Earlier this week anemotional Zanardi clinched Paralympic gold in the individual H4 (hand-cycle)time-trial. The 45-year-old Italian'stime of 24min 50.22sec over the 16km course was good enough to clinch victoryat Brands Hatch from Norbert Mosandl of Germany, who finished 27sec behind, andUS rider Oscar Sanchez, who was 45sec back.
Following his accident, he battled back into sport, evencompeting in a touring car race at Brands Hatch in a specially-adapted car withhand controls, before turning his attention to hand-cycling. Last year, he wonthe category at the New York Marathon. His average speed was 38.652 kilometresper hour -- considerably less than his previous best at the fabled circuit inthe county of Kent, southeast England.
"This is a great accomplishment, one of the greatest ofmy life. It was great to live such an experience at 45. With an engine pushingme, I didn't realise it (the Brands Hatch circuit) was so hilly. It is veryhard but if I had to design a course, this is what I would have done. It isbeautiful, hard, it suits my characteristics of an old man," he says.
Zanardi retired from motor racing three years ago and saidthe Paralympic Games would be his last in hand-cycling. "It (retiring frommotor racing) seemed a stupid thing to do to drop everything. It was againstall odds. But it's not the first crazy thing that I do in life. At the end Iwas right," he added. "I enjoyed every day of training. I've had amagical adventure and this is a fantastic conclusion."
