For the field events on Tuesday, spectators in the stadium were treated to plenty of excitement with a number of world record performances.
In the men's long jump F37/38, Farhat Chida from Tunisia jumped an F38 world record of 6.36m on his second attempt to take the lead. Pakistani Haider Ali then equaled the distance on his third to share the lead. Chida bettered the F38 world record, with a 0.9 wind-aided 6.44m, on his second last jump to secure the gold. Ali equalled this record on his final leap, but with a stronger wind aid of 1.9m per second to receive the silver medal.
The bronze medalist, China's Ma Yuxi, set F37 world record of 6.12m on his first jump, and then bettered his record to 6.19m on his final jump.
In the men's shot put F57/58 (wheelchair athletes with different levels of spinal cord injuries or amputations), all three medalists in Athens were on the start list but only Jamil Elshebli from Jordan secured a silver, but he bettered his own 57 class world record. The gold medal went to Russia's Alexey Ashapatov who shattered his own 58 class world record with his final throw of 16.03m.
In the women's shot put F57/58, Eucharia Njideka Iyiazi from Nigeria laughed last to win the gold medal with a result of 10.96m after her competitors set new leading positions one after another.
But the Paralympians in Beijing not only set records in the finals: in the heats of men's 400m T13, Luis Manuel Galano from Cuba clocked a Paralympic record of 49.28s seconds. In the women's 400m T53 heats, Jessica Galli of the United States created a tournament record in 56.10 seconds. South Korea's Suk-Man Hong's 49.13 seconds earned him a Paralympic record in the heats of the men's 400m T53.
(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2008)