RIO DE JANEIRO—Nearly 15 years to the day he lost his legs in an auto racing crash in Germany, Italian athlete Alex Zanardi captured a gold medal Wednesday at the Rio Paralympics. Competing in the men’s road hand-cycling time trial, Zanardi won in a time of 28 minutes, 36.81 seconds, ahead of Stuart Tripp of Australia and Oscar Sanchez of the United States. “At the time, I was asked if I would ever step back in a race car, but what was very important for me was to go into the bathroom and pee on my own, but I could not do that. 1 priority,” Zanardi told reporters after his race Wednesday. “Day by day I managed to regain control and strength, regain some confidence and concentrate on different things, and here I am now.”Eventually, Zanardi did return to sports, taking up hand cycling.

Source: thestar September 15, 2016 00:00 UTC