London 2012 Paralympics: Pearson misses magic number

Lee Pearson last night vowed that he will hit the road to Rio in 2016 after ending his London Paralympics campaign one gold medal short of joining an exclusive British sporting club.

The 38-year-old from Staffordshire was beaten into third place by Grade Ib freestyle winner Austrian Pepo Puch, while Finland’s Katja Karjalainen took silver with a score of 74.250 per cent, just 0.05 per cent above Pearson.

Pearson, though, appeared to be marked incredibly harshly by British judge Sarah Rodger, who awarded him only 65.250 per cent for his James Bond-themed musical routine and gave him 11th place from 15 starters.

Pearson had a 100 per cent record across three successive Paralympics before London, winning nine gold medals, but his score of 74.200 per cent aboard Gentleman was not enough, and he had to settle for bronze two days after collecting an individual championship silver. Pearson picked up his tenth career gold in Sunday’s team competition, but any chance of joining former wheelchair athlete Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and swimmer David Roberts on 11 golds will now have to wait another four years.

There was more British gold on the dressage event’s penultimate day, though, when 22-year-old Natasha Baker captured her second Paralympic title in 48 hours by dominating Grade II freestyle.