The most amazing person De Rozario hails hero Sauvage after marathon glory

Tokyo: Before the Tokyo Paralympics began, Australia’s new marathon champion Madison de Rozario was grappling with the fear that she might never quite make it.

All de Rozario ever wanted was to be like her coach and hero, Louise Sauvage, a pioneer of wheelchair racing and a legend of the sport. Yet a Paralympics gold medal had eluded her.

Madison de Rozario after winning gold in her marathon event. Credit:Getty

With three silvers to her name across the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Games, de Rozario tried to tell herself she wouldn’t be defined by results, but her desire to emulate her mentor’s feats never faded.

Sauvage pulled her aside.

“There was a point in my career where I worried that I couldn’t be like Louise,” de Rozario said. “But it was her that stopped all of it.

“She said, ‘You’re not going to be the next Louise Sauvage, you’re going to be the first Madison de Rozario’. Going into that race, she held me to a very high standard. She’s the most amazing person to have in my corner.”

Louise Sauvage wins gold in a women’s 5000m T54 final in Sydney 2000. Credit:Julian Andrews

On Sunday, having already won gold in the T54 800m, de Rozario pulled off one of the best performances of the Paralympics to finish first in the women’s marathon in her category.

The 27-year-old won a second. Over 42.195 kilometres, nearly 100 minutes of agony while zig-zagging around the city of Tokyo and into the main stadium, de Rozario pipped Switzerland’s Manuela Schaer at the line by the smallest of margins to cement her place in Paralympic history.

With 500 metres to go, Sauvage could barely watch from her vantage point in the stands. Her words from before the Games rang in de Rozario’s head, as the Australian star maintained her lead in the dying stages.

“She’s not me and I’m not her,” said Sauvage, a nine-time Paralympic gold medallist. “We do compete in the same events but she’s her own person. For me it’s a dream that she’s competing in the events I did. To be able to coach that is a dream for me. I love my sport so much.

Madison de Rozario won her second Paralympic gold medal on Sunday. Credit:Getty

“I’ve been in that situation myself but coaching is another challenge altogether. It’s paid off and it’s very rewarding. I think she’s just coming into her prime for the longer events.”

When American Susannah Scaroni pulled away from the field early in the race, de Rozario and Sauvage thought gold was gone.

But Sauvage, who was driven around two days earlier for a course inspection and took forensic notes like a senior detective, gave de Rozario specific instructions that this marathon would be won at the 38-kilometre mark on a big hill.

It takes one tough athlete to attack from there and is exactly what the Australian did.

Jaryd Clifford collapses after his marathon and is assisted by his guide Tim Logan. Credit:AP

“Every part of you hurts and every part of you wants to stop,” de Rozario said. “I’m all over the place. You line up in every race knowing what you’re capable of and there wasn’t a moment where I doubted that I could make the podium. Having said that, that is one of the strongest groups of women I have ever raced in my life. That was the longest 500 metres of my life going into the stadium. I did not think I was going to hold that for as long as I did. The finish line could not come quick enough.”

De Rozario wasn’t even tipped to be the story of Sunday’s five marathon events, with Australian world recorder holders Jaryd Clifford (T12) and Michael Roeger (T46) more fancied to take home medals.

Clifford, who has a visual impairment, claimed a silver medal - his third medal of the Games - after finishing his marathon in 2:26:09, four minutes behind Moroccan winner El Amin Chentouf alongside the second of his two guides - best mate Tim Logan.

“That was the most brutal thing I’ve ever done,” said Clifford, who collapsed on the track afterwards. “I was throwing up my guts with 12 kilometres to go. It was the biggest spew of my life. It’s scary, I didn’t know if I was going to make it.”

Roeger, who was given medical attention afterwards, was a shattered man, having been told five weeks ago he had a stress fracture in his fibula that severely affected his preparation and ability to perform at his best.

“It’s hard,” Roeger said. “I don’t remember much. The doctor said I was going in and out of consciousness. I got some oxygen and fluids. That’s part and parcel of the marathon. I gave it everything. It’s really disappointing because I know I’m better than that.

“The injury was shattering. Mentally it was the toughest five weeks of my life.”

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