We waited four days for Team LGBTQ to win its first gold medal at the Paralympics in Paris — then three came along in quick succession!
Great Britain’s Lauren Rowles, Australia’s Nikki Ayers and Israel’s Moran Samuel are all celebrating success after Sunday’s conclusion of the rowing regatta at Vaires-sur-Marne.
The morning medal rush began with Samuel triumphing in the women’s single sculls final.
The 42-year-old completed the trifecta of Paralympic medals in the discipline, having taken bronze in Rio and silver in Tokyo.
Get off the sidelines and into the game
Our weekly newsletter is packed with everything from locker room chatter to pressing LGBTQ sports issues.
Samuel had set a new Paralympic best time when she won her heat on Friday, and although she was not as quick on Sunday, she still finished more than eight seconds ahead of her nearest challenger, defending champion Birgit Skarstein of Norway.
It is Israel’s first-ever Paralympic rowing gold medal. Following her win, Samuel thanked her wife Limor, who she married in 2011 and with whom she has three children — Arad, Rom and Segev.
“It means a lot of hard work, dedication, determination, and perseverance, not just of me, but of my wife, my children, and the whole country of Israel,” she told the Paris 2024 website.
“I had the bronze in Rio, silver in Tokyo. I had these two [Skarstein and France’s Nathalie Benoit] to race over and over again, and lose over and over again, to win this one race, which was the most important one.”
Related
At least 42 out LGBTQ athletes at Paris Paralympics, a record
Team LGBTQ is ready to compete at the Paris Paralympics, which run Aug. 28-Sept. 8.
By Jim Buzinski | August 27, 2024
Samuel is a passionate advocate for LGBTQ inclusion in sport. In Pride Month 2022, she wrote an op-ed for the official Paralympics website, stating: “It’s very important that the Paralympic Movement put it on the agenda, and I think that the world of sport should welcome all the discussions regarding LGBT, also the ones that involve more work around them, like transgenders.”
Also setting new standards in the heats had been Rowles and her PR2 mixed double sculls partner Gregg Stevenson, who recorded a new world best time for the 2000m distance, under eight minutes.
In the final, the British duo trailed China’s Shuang Liu and Jijian Jiang until the last 100m stretch of water — but they found a late surge to cross the line first.
It was a historic third consecutive gold medal for Rowles, who triumphed alongside Laurence Whiteley in Rio and Tokyo. She is the first British rower to win three Paralympic gold medals.
Watching back home was her fiancee and Paralympian in wheelchair basketball, Jude Hamer, who gave birth to the couple’s first child Noah in March. Hamer posted a goat emoji to her Instagram story to mark the moment.
Rowles told Channel 4: “These Paralympic Games, you either show up or show out, I said that in the first race.
“It was going to come down to the line – the level of competition is high.
“We got out there and stayed on our process and I said to Gregg ‘when I say go, you go’.
“He did that and we just went for it and did our own thing and came through as champions.
“I’m the GOAT! Come on!”
Completing the Team LGBTQ golden Sunday was Ayers, who also went into her mixed double sculls final — this one in the PR3 classification, its first running at a Paralympics Games — alongside partner Jed Altschwager as hot favorites.
The duo hold a world’s best time in the event and combined to win Australia’s first-ever Paralympic rowing gold medal, ahead of Great Britain and Germany.
Among those celebrating Down Under was another Team LGBTQ great, Sharni Smale (nee Williams), who won Olympic gold in Rio as part of Australia’s women’s rugby sevens squad. Ayers suffered a freak knee injury while playing rugby in 2016, which ultimately set her on the path towards para-rowing.
“So pumped for these gold medalists!” wrote Smale on Instagram. “Congratulations on creating history!”
Both Ayers and Rowles are Pride House Paris ambassadors. Ayers spoke to Outsports in an exclusive interview back in April, saying: “I’m in a place now where I’m confident and happy with who I am and if I can be somebody that one person looks up to, who can help change their life, that would be amazing.”
Also representing Australia on the lake Sunday was Al Viney, who was part of the PR3 mixed coxed four.
The Aussies finished fifth, having qualified for the final through the repechage competition.
