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“Blade Jumper” Gets Paralympic Gold but No World Record

by | Sep 2, 2021 | Sports | 0 comments

Photo Credit: Flickr

By Markus Rehm

“Blade Jumper” Markus Rehm of Germany won gold at the Tokyo Paralympics but failed to topple his own long jump world record. 

Rehm set a new record in June of 8.62m, which would have won him gold at every Olympics since 1992. He had his sights on breaking it again in Tokyo. A leap of 8.18m was his best effort and it was more than enough to give him his third straight title and a fourth Paralympic gold. 

The 33-year-old said that he was happy to win the gold but disappointed that he could not jump further. “It was in my mind, definitely,” he said of the record. “I aimed for a bit longer jump but that’s how it is. The goal was to win the gold medal, and maybe we can achieve the 8.62 another time.”

The German athlete longed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics and said he had still not received an explanation on why he could not. “It is okay to make the decision that I can’t compete, but to make a decision without telling me why is just a shame,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dimitri Pavade of France won silver with a jump of 7.39m and Trenten Merrill of the US took bronze at 7.08m. 

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