The cramps to his cheek muscles from smiling were the biggest threat to Oscar Pistorius on Saturday as he swept to his second gold medal of the Paralympic Games in Beijing.

He won by 95 hundredths of a second in 21.67, setting a Paralympic record and leaving Jim Bob Bizzell in second for the silver medal, and Ian Jones of Great Britain ran 23.00 for the bronze medal.

“Once Oscar passed me, I only wanted to keep on going. I was using him to push myself,” said Bizzell.

Pistorius got a good start — in stark contrast to his 100m victory earlier in the week — and by the time he hit the home straight, he pulled clear and sailed to victory in solitary splendour.

The gold lifted South Africa into seventh spot on the medal table with 15 golds, two silvers and five bronzes.

“Running in this stadium is just an amazing experience,” gushed Pistorius afterwards, as he lapped up the adulation of a full house of 90 000 people in the Bird's Nest stadium.

“I would have to class this as one of my favourite races of my whole career,” he said.

Spare a thought for Arnu Fourie, the other South African in the field who finished in near anonymity. “I have only been running at this level since the beginning of last year,” he said.

He finished in a personal best 23.87 seconds, and drank in the experience.

“I'm going to work hard for 2012,” he said, “and especially in the 100m, because I think that's where Oscar can get beaten,” he said.

The other gold for South Africa came in the Water Cube, where Shireen Sapiro tied with Sophie Pascoe of New Zealand in the women's 100m backstroke S10 in a world record 1:10.57.

“That was so close! That was so close!” exclaimed Sapiro. “This morning, I wasn't sure if I could beat her. Actually, I didn't beat her!” she laughed.

“We both proved we are as good as each other,” said Pascoe. “We are good mates. We are athletes, but athletes must sometimes share as well,” she said.

Other athletes didn't have the same degree of success after Hilton Langenhoven struck gold with his 7.31m leap in the long jump F12, and Riaan Nel won silver in the mixed road race CP1/CP2 over 24.2km in 48:05.33.

But, with 15 golds on the board and counting, South Africa is set for its most successful Paralympics yet.

Summary: Athletics — Men's long jump F12 Hilton Langenhoven won gold in 7.31m (Paralympic record); Men's 100m T13 Jonathan Ntutu 4th in heat 1 of 2 in 11.32, advanced to final Fifth in final in 11.06 (season's best) behind Jason Smyth (IRL) 10.62 (WR); Men's 200m T38 Marius Stander 4th in heat 1 of 2 in 24.35, advanced to final; Women's 200m T13 Ilse Hayes 2nd in heat 2 of 2 in 26.46, advanced to final Hayes 5th in final in 26.22, behind Sanaa Benhama (MAR) 24.89; Men's 200m T44 Arnu Fourie 3rd in heat 1 of 2 in 24.17, advanced to final, Oscar Pistorius 1st in heat 2 of 2 in 22.71, advanced to final Pistorius gold in final in 21.67 (Paralympic record); Fourie 6th in season's best 23.87; Men's 100m T35 Teboho Mokgalagadi bronze in 12.82 behind Yang Sen (CHN) 12.29 (WR).

Swimming — Women's 100m backstroke S9 Emily Gray 6th in heat 1 of 2 in 1:20.01, did not advance to final; Women's 100m backstroke S10 Shireen Sapiro 1st in heat 2 of 2 in 1:13.04, advanced to final Sapiro 1st in final for gold in 1:10.57 (WR); Women's 50m freestyle S3 Sarah Shannon 4th in heat 1 of 2 in 1:15.59, advanced to final Shannon 7th in final in 1:13.39, behind Patricia Valle (MEX) in 57.05.

Table tennis — Women's team classification match 4-5 South Africa lost 0-3 to Jordan Men's team classification 6-8 South Africa lost 0-3 to Israel.

Road cycling Mixed road race CP1/CP2 24.2km Riaan Nel won silver in 48:32.85; Men's road race LC1/LC2/CP4 72.6km Janos Plekker 23rd

AFP

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