David Weir (athlete) - Summer Paralympics 2012

Summer Paralympics 2012

At the London 2012 Summer Paralympics, Weir won four gold medals: three at the Olympic Stadium and one in the marathon. On 2 September 2012 in the 5,000 metres, on 4 September 2012 in the 1,500m and on 6 September 2012 in the 800m and on 9 September 2012 in the Marathon.

Weir, aged 33, opened his Paralympic campaign on August 13, 2012 with a comfortable win in his qualifying heat for the 5,000m final, slowing down in the home straight to record a time of 11:27.87.

Weir's second race of the games brought him his first gold of the competition. Weir stormed to victory in a time of 11:07.65 in the Olympic stadium, saying after his win "It’s tough when you have been around for a long time and this was the main one I had to be motivated for. I wanted to win this one and the crowd were a massive lift."

The following day Weir raced in his third race of the games, the qualifying round for the 1,500m final. Weir finished third in a time of 3:11.35 to safely qualify for the final, he said after the race "I had bags of speed in my arms, that just shows you how fit I am. A lot of it's adrenaline as well from last night."

The next day Weir defended his 2008 paralympic 1500m title in the Olympic stadium in front of 80,000 spectators, his fourth race of the games, in a time of 3:12.09. Weir talked about his Father, now living in Northern Ireland, who rarely gets to see him race after he won "He used to take me training every day when I was younger. It was nice that he could be here."

The following day, 5 September 2012, Weir raced in his fifth race of the games, the qualifying round for the 800m final. Weir won his heat in a time of 1:37.09 more than a second ahead of 800m world record holder Marcel Hug. Talking after the race Hug said "David Weir is racing very well, he is just flying, he has all the self-confidence and he has the crowd on his back so that makes him strong."

The next day, 6 September 2012, Weir triumphed once again in the 800m final, his third gold medal of the games. Once again Weir was defending a title he had won four years previously in Beijing, and in front of a 80,000 crowd in the Olympic stadium he clocked a time of 1:37.63 to claim his third track gold in five days. Weir said after the race "They're all special. I've defended my title in both the distances I've won and now I've got a gold in the 5,000; I only got bronze in Beijing. I feel like I'm on top of the world at the moment."

Great Britain's last gold medal of the Paralympic games was won by Weir. After nine days of gruelling competition on the track, competing in and winning the 800, 1,500 and 5,000 meter titles Weir won the marathon on the final day of the games in a time of 1:30:20. After the race Weir paid tribute to the home support all the British athletes received during the games when he said "It didn’t matter what position you came in, they were still behind you and they still loved you."

In competing in the 2012 Summer Paralympic games Weir had taken part in seven races in ten days and completed 35.3 miles in his pursuit of four gold medals for team paralympic GB.