Swimmer Daniel Dias has made history at the Paralympic Games again. This Friday (07.09), he won the 50m butterfly (S5) with a world record (34.15 seconds), reaching his fifth gold in London and becoming Brazil's biggest medallist in Paralympics, with 14 medals. In all, with his results from Beijing 2008, Daniel, who still has an event to swim this Saturday (08.09), has already won nine gold, four silver and a bronze.

With the result, the holder of ten world records, four broken in London, has surpassed Clodoalvo Silva, swimmer who inspired him into starting to practice the sport and sprinter Ádria Santos, both with 13 medals in Paralympic Games. When asked about this record, Daniel thanked everyone who supported him, but preferred leaving celebrations until the end of the competition. "It is an honour to have reached this result. It was a lot of training, dedication and faith in God that have brought me here", he said.  "I am going to think about this later, on Sunday, as I still have two events to swim tomorrow. The priority is food and rest", he stated.


Daniel was born with congenital malformation of his upper limbs and right leg. A sports aficionado, he found parasport watching swimmer Clodoaldo Silva on TV at the Athens 2004 Paralympics. He has stood out in competitions since 2006, when he competed in his first World Championship. In 2009, he was awarded the Laureus trophy, a type of Oscar of sport, as the best Paralympic athlete of 2008, after winning nine medals in his debut at the Games. "I hope that with these results, people may start looking more positively at parasports in Brazil", he asked.

Bronze
Swimming also won another bronze this Friday. Joana Silva won the bronze medal in the 50m butterfly (S5), with the time of 46.62 seconds and celebrated her Paralympic medal. "I have waited four years to win this medal. I expected to swim it in 47 seconds, but I did it 46 and I'm very happy. This bronze is worth gold for me", he said.