Aaron Fotheringham, 14, does first backflip ever in a wheelchair
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Three disabled athletes from Spain have reached the South Pole
Three disabled athletes from Spain have reached the South Pole unassisted by animals or machines, in what a Spanish newspaper said Sunday was a world first.
The three, Jesus Noriega, Eric Villalon and Xavier Valbuena, accompanied by two guides, arrived at the world's most southerly point after a 12-day journey across Antarctica in January, El Pais reported.
The expedition was aimed at showing that nothing is impossible for those with disabilities. But it also had a scientific objective, to collect samples from the polar ice over the 250-kilometre (400-mile) route.
Villalon, a paralympic skier, is practically blind, while Valbuena lost one leg in a motorcycle accident and Noriega was born without his right hand.
Enduring temperatures of minus 40 C and strong winds, they crossed the ice pulling sleds of around 60 kilogrammes (130 pounds).
It is the first time that disabled people have reached the South Pole without help from animals or machines, El Pais.
The expedition was financed by a foundation set up by the Spanish bank La Caixa and by the government of Spain's eastern region of Catalonia.
AFP - 3/2/2009
Blind Belgian drives at 192 miles per hour
ISTRES, France (AFP) - Blind Belgian daredevil Luc Costermans won a world record Saturday when he hit 308.78 kilometres (192 miles) per hour driving a Lamborghini Gallardo supercar on a French airstrip.
The 43-year-old, who was blinded in an accident four years ago, hit the top speed twice in the borrowed car at the Istres airbase in southern France.
Costermans thanked his co-pilot Guillaume Roman, the air force and his sponsors, and dedicated his record to the Formula 1 driver Philippe Streiff, who has been a tetraplegic since an accident in the 1989 Brasil Grand Prix.
The blind road speed record was previously held by Britain's Mike Newman, who hit 268 kilometres per hour in October 2005 in a modified BMW M5.
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Beijing Paralympic Games: a number of records
19 September 2008
After 12 days of competition, the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games on 17 September 2008 officially ended a period of record-breaking competition and events.
279 world records
Almost 4,000 athletes from a total of 147 different countries around the world came to Beijing to compete in their respective sports. Some athletes competed in more than one event, but they all participated at an elite level. Of these 147 countries, five competed in the Paralympic Games for the first time, including Burundi, Gabon, Georgia, Haiti and Montenegro. The Games saw a total of 279 new world records set and a total of 339 new Paralympic records broken.
1.9 million tickets sold
A record number of 1.9 million tickets were sold, with an additional 600,000 tickets provided to children, educational institutes and community groups. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies were sold out, as were all the swimming events and most of the athletics events.
One thousand doping tests conducted
Out of more than 1,000 doping tests conducted, there were three anti-doping rule violations. The doping tests performed included urine (Erythropoietin, EPO) and blood tests (Human Growth Hormone (hGH), synthetic haemoglobin (HBOC), blood transfusions (BT) and other substances.
