Kevin Paul swims to gold medal in Rio

World champion and former Grey High schoolboy Kevin Paul struck gold when he won the 100m breaststroke SB9 swimming final at the Paralympic Games in Rio late last night.

The 25-year-old swam a time of 1:04.86 to edge Denys Dubrov of the Ukraine and secure South Africa’s first medal of the Games.

In London four years ago, Paul had to settle for silver in his keynote event.

Paul, formerly of Port Elizabeth but now training in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal with national swimming coach Graham Hill, got off to a great start.

He was the fastest qualifier to emerge from the heats earlier yesterday and did not disappoint in the final last night to match his gold medal performance at the Beijing Games in 2008.

Paul can now take a bit of a breather before the 200m individual medley later in the Games.

Born without pectoral muscles on the left side of his chest as a result of Poland Syndrome, Paul’s left arm is slightly shorter than his right and he has adapted his stroke to swim predominately with his shoulder muscles.