Du Toit, who is retiring at the end of the Paralympics, got off to a great start and was ahead after 50m, never looking back as she comfortably won gold.

At one point Britain's Stephanie Millward  (pictured below, left) looked as though she could rein in the South African, but she settled for silver, with Australia's Ellie Cole (pictured below, right) taking bronze to add to her two gold medals.

It was the world record holder's second gold medal of the Games after she won the 100m butterfly last Thursday (August 30).

Du Toit (pictured below, centre), one of the most successful Paralympic athletes of all time, was also the first female amputee ever to qualify for an Olympic Games in 2008, where she competed in the 10km open water event.

Beijing 2008 also saw her became the only athlete ever to carry her nation's flag at both the Olympics and Paralympics.

She has won seven Commonwealth Games gold medals in addition to the collection of twelve Paralympic titles she now has.

By the end of London 2012 du Toit could have as many as 15 golds if she wins her three remaining races, beginning with the 50m freestyle tomorrow night.

Du Toit dedicated her win to Cathy Doyle, who was the President of Central Gauteng Aquatics (CGA) and died in January.


"That race was for Cathy, she was our CGA president," said du Toit afterwards, adding that she had thought of Doyle just before the race started.

"She was supposed to be officiating tonight.

"Because she has done so much for me in my life, I just want to dedicate this medal to her and her family.

"Thank you to them.

"She was at the World Championships on the side of the pool.

"Sometimes I try and picture her sitting on the chair."

On the event itself, du Toit added: "This was one of the safe races.

"The longer the distance, the better for me – I start getting my stride and I start pulling away."

Australia's Jacqueline Freney (pictured below) continued where she left off last night, winning a remarkable sixth gold medal of these Games in as many nights.


The 20-year-old won the 50m freestyle S7 in 32.63sec, setting a Paralympic record.

Freney is currently the most successful athlete of the London 2012 Paralympics, and seems set to depart at the weekend with more gold medals than anyone else.

She is in contention to win another two gold medals later this week.

"I'm not a sprinter, but I'm so happy to have another medal under my belt," the Australian said.

"It's a bit of a shock actually.

"I was hoping for at least one medal, but six is unbelievable.

"I have a rest day tomorrow so I can recover and I am really looking forward to the 400m.

"It should be a good race, I am going to go for a world record in the 400 metres."

There was also home glory for Britain's Heather Frederiksen, who sent the Aquatics Centre wild with a stunning victory in the 100m backstroke S8, finishing over a second ahead of American Jessica Long, who was hoping for her fourth gold medal of the Games.

Frederiksen was beaten by Long in three events in Beijing, but victory tonight meant she defended the one gold medal she won four years' ago.


"That race was absolutely everything to me," said Frederiksen (pictured above), who in 2010 was stripped of the gold and silver medals she won in the previous year's European Championships.

Frederiksen was handed a backdated six-month ban for a positive drugs test that saw the medals taken from her after an exceptionally unfortunate incident during the competition.

Suffering from a severe asthma attack, she had no choice but to use an inhaler, which subsequently meant that she tested positive for a raised level of Salbutamol in her system.

She used her victory last night to attack those who label her a "drugs cheat".

"That doping ban was for a Salbutamol inhaler and it was something that I had to do," she reiterated.

"I'd ask the question: If your life was at risk in an asthma attack what would you do?"

On the event itself, Frederiksen added: "Yesterday I was really nervous coming in to it, I was nervous this morning and I was nervous again tonight.

"But I was determined that I was going to fight to win it and that's what I did.

"I knew I had to go out strong and I had a funny feeling the girls were catching me down the last 25m and last 15m because the crowd were getting louder and louder.

"So I just had to keep pushing and get to that wall."

Long had to settle for her second silver, with Russia's Olesya Vladykina taking the bronze.

Another Russian, Oxana Savchenko, continued her superb form as she broke another world record in the 100m freestyle S12 in 58.41sec, to win her third gold medal of the week.

The 50m freestyle saw the resumption of the battle between Britain's Ellie Simmonds and her controversial American rival Victoria Arlen, but both were beaten by Dutchwoman Peper Mirjam de Koning (pictured below, centre), who was defending her title.


She produced a superb final burst to break a Paralympic record and take gold by clocking 34.77sec.

Arlen took silver and Simmonds was made to wait for a potential third gold medal as she finished third.

Spain's Teresa Perales is still waiting for her seventh gold medal after being beaten in the women's 100m breaststroke SB4, picking up her second bronze, adding to the two silvers also claimed at the Aquatics Centre.

Natalia Prologaieva of Ukraine won the race, breaking yet another world record as she clocked 1:43.99, with Norway's Sarah Louise Rung taking silver.

Perales has, however, become Spain's most decorated Paralympian of all time this week, with tonight's medal her 20th in total.

Canada's Summer Ashley Mortimer won the women's 100m backstroke S10 in another world record time of 1:05.90, beating New Zealand's double gold medallist Sophie Pascoe.

That was her second gold medal of the Games.

In the men's events, Belarus' Ihar Boki, another of the stars of the Paralympic swimming so far, won his fourth gold medal, breaking the world record twice today and clocking 3:58.78 tonight in the 400m freestyle S13.

The 18-year-old can still win two more gold medals during these Games.


Defending Paralympic champion Qing Xu (pictured above) claimed his second gold medal of the Games as the Chinaman broke a world record in 28.57sec in the 50m freestyle S6.

Australia's Brenden Hall was another athlete winning a second gold in the 400m freestyle S9 in a world record 4:10.88 time.

There was a thrilling finish in the final of the 100m backstroke S10 as Brazilian sensation André Brasil was denied a third gold of London 2012 by American Justin Zook, whose 1:00.01 time was not only a world record, but just a tenth of a second faster than Brasil.

Brazil were able to celebrate through their other swimming star Daniel Dias, who picked up 100m breaststroke SB4 gold in a world record time of 1:32.27 – his third title of the week.

Russia also celebrated more glory as Konstantin Lisenkov, the world record holder in the 100m backstroke SB8, defended his Beijing 2008 title in a Paralympic record time of 1:05.43.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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