The Paralympic Games don’t usually generate the same level of hype as the Olympics, but they certainly weren’t lacking in the incredible story department in 2016.
For instance, one might assume a Paralympian would automatically clock a slower time than his Olympic counterpart in say, a 1,500-meter race. One would be wrong.
Four visually impaired athletes—Abdellatif and Fouad Baka of Algeria, Tamiru Demisse of Ethiopia and Henry Kirwa of Kenya—all ran a faster time in the 1,500-meter T13 final than the Olympic champion, American Matthew Centrowitz Jr.
Abdellatif Baka’s gold medal-winning time of 3:48.29 is a new world record for his classification. Centrowitz’s Olympic time was 3:50.00.