Jaryd Clifford was in shock. As he crossed the line in second place in the men’s 5000m T13, the 22-year-old was physically exhausted. He staggered around, briefly congratulated his competitors, and then, as the commentator David Culbert put it, Clifford went off for a moment to lose his lunch.

But the shock went beyond the physical. In the post-race interview, Clifford broke down as he talked of not achieving his goal, and of racing for his late grandfather, who’d had tickets for the Games back when Japan still had plans to fill the stands. His grandfather died before Clifford’s big day.

“It wasn’t good enough for what I wanted today,” Clifford said on Channel 7. “But I gave it everything. I’m pretty cooked, pretty emotional and that’s a testament to where Paralympic sport is. No medal is a guarantee ever. And I knew that.”

Clifford grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Greensborough and now trains in Canberra under the tutelage of esteemed coach Philo Saunders. He came to Tokyo with one goal in mind. He’d won gold at the last para-athletics world championships and was viewed by many as the hot favourite. Gold at Tokyo was the logical next step.

So when Spainaird Yassin Ouhdadi el Ataby bolted for the finish about 250m from home, Clifford seemed, maybe only for a split second, a little stunned.

Around the bend Clifford fought, in the final straight he lifted again, but no matter how he lengthened his strides, he drew no closer to el Ataby. It was an exceptional run from the Spaniard.

 https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/28/jaryd-clifford-paralympic-games-tokyo-t13-5000m