Rio 2016 Paralympics

Swimming

Sascha Kindred: 'Gold is perfect way to end Paralympic career'

Great Britain's Sascha Kindred tells Sports Mole that he will not be carrying on to Tokyo despite winning his seventh Paralympic gold medal in world-record fashion.
By , Staff Reporter
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Updated: Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 19:25 UK

Great Britain's Sascha Kindred has told Sports Mole that he is "99% sure" that he will not be at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020.

The 38-year-old won the 13th Paralympic medal and seventh gold of his illustrious career this evening, breaking the world record in the men's 200m individual medley.

The victory came after a tumultuous day that saw Kindred disqualified in the heats and then reinstated, but despite his unprecedented time, he does not expect to continue to a seventh edition of the Paralympics.

"I'm 99% sure. I'm not Steve Redgrave. I won't say 'kill me if you see me in the pool'! But I'm 99% sure I won't do Tokyo," he said.

"[It's] an incredible feeling. I had a Brazilian in my race, I'm good friends with Talisson [Glock], the noise when he came out before me... I tried to have that noise in myself and think 'that's for me'. Never mind the Brazilian in my race. It's great to see all these crowds supporting these athletes. We are elite athletes so we've put on a good show.

"I wouldn't say [the disqualification added] pressure, because throughout my career I've shown that I've been a world-class athlete, so I've got nothing to prove to anyone bar myself. I knew I had a good performance in me, the way my training was going, so it was just a case of putting it all together this evening and it happened."

Kindred, who also won 200m individual medley gold in Sydney, Athens and Beijing, appeared at his first Games 20 years ago in Atlanta.

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