We assume that disabled athletes have less potential than their able-bodied counterparts, but Paralympians have been proving otherwise.
Algeria's Abdellatif Baka won gold in the 1,500-meter race for the visually impaired at the Rio Paralympics. His timing was not only the world's fastest-ever in his category; he also beat the time American Matthew Centrowitz ran to win the 1,500-meter gold at the Olympics last month.
Actually, all top four finishers in the 1,500 m Paralympic T13 final - including Baka's brother Fouad - clocked faster than Centrowitz's Rio Olympic gold-winning finish.
Fox News points out that while the feat is remarkable, Paralympic and Olympic results cannot be practically compared. Long-distance Olympic races rely on tactics that go beyond finishing the race in the fastest time possible. The 1,500-meter Rio Olympic final was a slow race, where the competition only peeked in the last 500 meters.
Still, Abdellatif Baka, a four-time World Championship medalist, has grabbed his second Paralympic gold, having brought home the 800-meter gold from the 2012 London Paralympics.
“It wasn't easy to get this gold medal,” he said . “I’ve been working one or two years non-stop and it’s been very, very hard for me,”
Baka is currently Algeria's only Rio 2016 Paralympic gold medalist. The country's Paralympians have already won ten silver and bronze medals in Rio.
Meanwhile, Algeria only registered two silver medals at the Olympics last month, thanks to middle-distance runner Taoufik Makhloufi .
The African nation has an impressive history at the Paralympic Games, totaling 19 gold, 13 silver and 25 bronze medals as of London 2012.