David Weir made it four out of four gold medals yesterday to complete a remarkable home Paralympic games.
The Weirwolf was roared down the home straight in yesterday's marathon by thousands of ecstatic union jack waving fans.
Cheered on by a huge crowd, he came home in one hour 30 minutes and 20 seconds to beat Marcel Hug of Switzerland into second place by a second, with defending champion Kurt Fearnley of Australia taking bronze, also a second behind Weir.
Weir said: "That was the toughest race I've ever raced in my life. I was absolutely dying in the first five miles. I didn't think I'd manage to cope with the heat. I felt flat and I had to dig deep.
Weir, who had already collected golds in the T54 800m, 1500m and 5000m, rounded off his London 2012 campaign a with a sprint finish along The Mall that left his opponents battling it out for silver and bronze.
"I had an energy shot just to keep going. That was meant for about 16 miles, not the first five miles.
"They were all working together to try to stop me, but I'm used to that, I just do my own thing and race the best I can."
"The crowd were just awesome, I've never seen that before for the whole race. When I couldn't feel my push rims, they were getting me through. My whole body was tingling.
"I knew on the final stretch I had to dig deep. I didn't know where the finishing line was, so I carried on pushing. I didn’t know how close they were behind me.
"I sprinted as hard as I could. I thought I went too early, but my arms didn't feel tired. I had a sneaky look back and there was a good two chair-lengths back.
"I knew I had lots and lots of top speed. I knew on the final stretch I had to keep doing what I do in Richmond Park with the cyclists when I do a mile in under three minutes."
Weir said he was delighted to take gold in all four of his events at London 2012.
"I trained for all four events, but you can’t train for the emotions. I didn't know how my body would feel this morning. I've never done so many races before."
He added he was pleased to see the media attention the Paralympic Games has received.
"I'm honoured that on the front and the back pages Paralympic sport had got the recognition it should do. We're super humans and phenomenal athletes."
Weir was given the opportunity, alongside fellow quadruple gold medalist Sarah Storey, to carry the British flag in last night's spectacular closing Ceremony.
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