Walsh cuts a dash in 400m event

Paralympics 2004: After two fast semi-finals on Sunday, it was a tired-looking Derek Malone who brought his Paralympic games to a close last night with a seventh-place finish in last night's T38 400m final.

Downcast, even the bronze medal he had won in the 800m temporarily forgotten, Malone, who greatly benefited from an injury-free run of training this year, including a significant warm-weather programme, left the stadium unsure what his athletics career held in store.

But fatigue was the evident force. "You, know it's Superman and Kryptonite. It really takes it out of you," he said after the race. "Everyone suffered in that final because of two really fast semi- finals yesterday. CP (cerebral palsy) really takes it out of you."

Not quite up to the personal best time he ran in the semi-final of 54.35 seconds, his 54.84 seconds final run was a race too far. Even the winner of the gold medal, Australia's Tim Sullivan, was a second and a half off his personal best.

"I've a sub-55 for the 400m and the 800m worked out well," said Malone. "Now I've got to sit down and work everything out in terms of my career."

He was quickly followed onto the track by Catherine Walsh in the T13 400m, the Dublin runner bringing the Ireland team's track and field competition to an end.

Walsh achieved what Malone had done in his semi-final and cut a swathe off her personal best time over the one lap. Finishing sixth in the final in 1:05.66 seconds, she shattered her previous time of 1:10.66 seconds.

Given that Walsh, a visually- impaired athlete, had not run the distance at championship level since the Barcelona Paralympic games in 1992, and had been brought into the games as a wildcard, it was quite a turn.

"That's not really my distance. I haven't run it in a championship for 12 years," she cheerily said. "But I'm delighted for myself and everyone who helped me. It's been a challenging year."

Contrary to the sunny mood that generally washed around the stadium, it was, overall, a sombre evening. A one-minute silence was later observed in the stadium following the death of seven children following a bus crash in Trikkala, a region north of Athens. The organisers had been bringing tens of thousands of schoolchildren to the games all week and the bus that crashed had been on its way to Athens as part of a convoy of 40 vehicles.

As a mark of respect the Athens 2004 Organising Committee have decided to cancel the planned entertainment portions of tonight's Closing Ceremony. It will now only contain protocol segments, the athletes, a speech from International Paralympic president Phil Craven, the handing over of the Paralympic flag to the Beijing Organising Committee, and the extinguishing of the flame.

Not quite at an end, but highly- unlikely to qualify for the semi- finals of the team competition, the Irish Boccia team, John Cronin and Gerard O'Grady, who lost their first two games of the pool and fought back to win the next two, have one remaining match today.

Cronin is the defending champion, having won in Sydney with Margaret Grant. While the semi- final looks beyond reach for the Irish duo, a top three group placing is a possibility.