Paralympic Games: Brazilian Dias wins 4th swimming gold

London, Sep 7 (IANS) Brazilian swimmer Daniel Dias won his fourth gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympics in the 50-meter backstroke (class S5), beating his third world record during the Games.

Dias, a Paralympic version of Michael Phelps, won the competition with a time of 34.99 seconds, defeating Chinese He Junquan who timed 36.41 seconds here Thursday, reports Xinhua. Hungarian Zsolt Vereczkei was third in 38.92 seconds.

Dias jumped to fame in Beijing 2008, when he won nine medals, including four gold, four silver and one bronze.

On Thursday, Dias became one of Brazil’s most medaled para-athlete, reaching the 13-medal record shared by swimmer Clodoaldo Dias and runner Adria Santos, although Dias has won eight gold medals, the most among the three.

So far, Dias has won all the individual competitions he entered and set three world and one Paralympic records.

Dias will take part in two more individual races, 100-meter freestyle and 50-meter butterfly.