'Blind' sprinter storms into history

Reuters - Wed, 28 Jul 11:37:00 2010

Legally blind Irish sprinter Jason Smyth is used to being top dog at the Paralympics but now feels more than ready to mix with elite athletes on the world's biggest stages.

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The partially-sighted 23-year-old has made history as the first Paralympian to compete at a European championships, and produced a storming run on Tuesday at a breezy Olympic Stadium in Barcelona to qualify for Wednesday's semi-finals of the 100 metres.

Smyth ran 10.43 seconds, compared with a personal best of 10.32, in the same heat as Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre, the fastest European this year after setting a national record of 9.98 at the French championships this month.

"When you come here and compete against guys who've run 9.9 you're worried about getting destroyed," Smyth said in the stadium that hosted the 1992 Olympics.

"In the Paralympics you're number one and expected to win but here the competition is a lot harder and you get away with very little," he added.

"But it does give you confidence competing against athletes of this quality and competing well. I definitely believe I belong here with these guys."

Smyth, gold medallist in the 100 and 200 metres at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, suffers from Stargardt's disease, a disorder that has reduced his vision to about 10 percent of that of a fully-sighted person.

Despite attracting little sponsorship, he has managed to fund trips to train in Florida at the base used by United States former world champion Tyson Gay and is aiming to compete at both the Olympics and Paralympics in London in 2012.

He said he had received a lot of attention in the Catalan capital this week but was not letting it distract him from the task in hand.

"I've done a lot of interviews but I'm generally quite laid back and don't get too stressed."

Asked about his chances of making it through to Wednesday's 100 metres final, he added: "I wouldn't want to say yes. It's a very outside chance but you never know what can happen. I'll see if I can step up another level and compete."

  • 100m Men
Reuters

Comment 28 - 47 of 47

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  1. "Fack" you donney you

    From Icantsplel, on Fri 30 Jul 1:29

  2. From a qualified ophthalmologist, I think Jasons­ achievement is remarkable. His great achievement is­ getting to this level of competition. Of course­ he'd have no trouble running straight for 100m as­ he retains central vision with his Stargardts disease.­ What is remarkable is how he trained so hard whilst­ partially sighted. Easy for me or you to just decide to­ drive down to the gym and put in an hour. Much harder­ when you have to plan everything ahead of time. As an­ Irishman I salute him

    From thegamboller, on Fri 30 Jul 0:07

  3. I think it's fantastic what Jason has done. To­ run 100 metres in under 11 seconds is brilliant. To do­ that with out running out of lane. is tremendous top­ sighted athletes have been disqualified for this­ infringement. I believe that any one can enjoy sport at­ what ever level that they choose to partipate at and­ with the ability that they have. Jason is a­ competitive athelete who has the potential to run a lot­ faster than he has in the heats. To run and not know­ where your other competors are in the race whether they­ are behind or in front of you takes great mental­ ability because he cant see the big screen where the­ race is being televised so cant use it to see where the­ other runners are. So Jason go for gold

    From , on Thu 29 Jul 21:29

  4. Theres a man who can run nearly blind you all­ seen the world cup players earning Millioms cant­ see for running ?

    From cabbi, on Thu 29 Jul 21:05
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Being partially blind is not disablement. Honestly. Big­ deal. I can run just as fast with my eyes shut.

    From evilbasterdme, on Thu 29 Jul 14:40

  6. You can always trust the yahoo moderators to be as­ incompetent as f uck.

    From evilbasterdme, on Thu 29 Jul 14:24

  7. the abuse jason is getting it is out of order. I would­ like
    to see all of them do what is donig with there­ eyes closed
    even if he did not win any thing but he­ will win ever one
    around hime. bet all his family are­ prod of him.

    From robert s, on Thu 29 Jul 13:55

  8. what you are doing it is soo good and i hope that you­
    will win the gold

    From robert s, on Thu 29 Jul 13:44
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    donney u r a @#$% prick

    From Peter, on Thu 29 Jul 13:17

  10. Well Done jason Smyth you have done us all proud and­ have put n.ireland on the map for all the right­ reasons. Keep up all the hard work. Ur a star =)

    From PAUL, on Thu 29 Jul 12:22

  11. Fair play Jason
    You're doing all of Ireland proud

    From chris, on Thu 29 Jul 11:38
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    wher da f***do u get these­ f******stories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! fire this guy

    From him, on Thu 29 Jul 11:06

  13. Why are you all focusing (bad pun) on this guy's­ disability? Surely it's his ability that allows him­ to compete at this level, so he is partially sited,­ there is nothing wrong with his legs so why can't­ he participate? would you prefer all disabled­ athlete's to be segregated into "their­ own" little competition so you don't have to­ accept him for what he has done.has he not earned the­ right to represent his country. Do your research into­ disability equality and then come back and comment.

    From KATHY, on Thu 29 Jul 8:45

  14. Take an old pair of glasses and scratch them right on­ the middle of the lens where your central vision is on­ each eye and see how you get on in life. Use your­ peripheral vision and then come back and see whether­ your feckless comments are worthy or not.

    From goodbyegirluk, on Thu 29 Jul 7:53
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I still like chicken.

    From luke, on Thu 29 Jul 7:32

  16. J- Thanks for your goodwill but I feel you have just­ jumped on the bandwagon instead of actually reading my­ comment. I never said it wasn't hard to run in a­ straight line and I have never knocked his achievement.­ If you are going to put me down for anything then it­ has to be my ignorance towards reading whilst partially­ sighted but then I am partial retarded so who can blame­ me.

    From Rock0, on Thu 29 Jul 6:14

  17. BFS @ 34: You are worryingly ignorant. I'll tell­ you what, wear a pair of dark glasses, cover all but a­ 0.5cm area with cardboard and smear vaseline and flour­ over the rest then turn the lights off. That's­ partially sighted/legally blind. Now run 100 metres in­ a straight line in 10.32 seconds. You wouldn't even­ be able to read the correct sign on a lavatory door let­ alone run down an athletics track.

    From Richard, on Thu 29 Jul 6:14

  18. Nice to see a Man fro the North of Ireland representing­ Ireland.... the media always say Britian BUT HES A­ PROUD IRISH MAN from Co. Derry

    From Richy, on Thu 29 Jul 6:11

  19. @lillbitch
    Partially blind means he still has some­ sight, and he could be told by someone else what people­ are saying about him.

    From James, on Thu 29 Jul 6:03

  20. Leon, I hope one day you lose your sight and then you­ will know what it is like. It is an incredible­ achievement for him, or any blind person. You are­ completely wrong, it is hard to run in a straight line­ when you are blind, and fully sighted athletes are seen­ moving slightly out of lane anyway. Good on him.

    From James, on Thu 29 Jul 6:02
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