Jon-Allan Butterworth clinches momentous success with C1-5 team sprint gold
ByPA Sport
Published 11/09/2016 at 20:11 GMT
Jon-Allan Butterworth clinched a momentous success alongside Jody Cundy and Louis Rolfe by winning the C1-5 team sprint gold for Great Britain in Rio.
Jon-Allan Butterworth, left, Jody Cundy and Louis Rolfe, right, won gold
Image credit: PA Sport
Jon-Allan Butterworth clinched a momentous success alongside Jody Cundy and Louis Rolfe by winning the C1-5 team sprint gold for Great Britain in Rio.
The 30-year-old, who with Cundy and Rolfe is world champion, was injured while serving in Iraq and raced to victory on Sunday.
Butterworth claimed three silver medals at London 2012 and his gold as part of the team success was significant for British service personnel injured in Iraq or Afghanistan.
It was the first time a veteran injured in those conflicts has won Paralympic gold.
The 30-year-old from Sutton Coldfield was a weapons technician working in Basra when he was caught in a rocket attack and had to have his left arm amputated as a result of his injuries.
He joined the Battleback programme - a partnership between the British Paralympic Association and the Ministry of Defence - and now is a Paralympic champion.
"There was no way I was going to come this far for silver," Butterworth said.
"I won three silvers in London but I will trade all those in for this one gold. It means more.
"I'm not being greedy, but I just wanted that one gold. I know those were a home Games but to be on the top step, you can't beat that feeling and that's the first time I have done it at a Paralympic Games."
Lora Turnham and her pilot Corrine Hall won the tandem three-kilometres pursuit at the velodrome.
Turnham and Hall finished with bronze at March's Track World Championships, but finished first this time. Sophie Thornhill and pilot Helen Scott took bronze.
Turnham added: "It's incredible. I just can't stop laughing and crying.
"We knew after winning bronze at the worlds we were capable of winning a medal, but I never quite allowed myself to believe it would be gold."
Turnham is to marry fellow visually impaired cyclist Neil Fachie in October.
Fachie and his pilot Peter Mitchell had to settle for silver in the tandem one-kilometre time-trial as Holland won gold. James Ball and his pilot Craig MacLean were fifth.
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