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Ireland celebrates fourth Paralympic medal as Michael McKillop wins gold

Although he entered the games as strong favourite, Michael McKillop still managed to surpass all expectations tonight by breaking the world record and achieving a Paralympic gold medal with a remarkable display in the Men’s T37 800m athletics final in London.

Earlier this evening, Michael's Team Ireland colleague Jason Smyth achieved gold in the T13 100m Mens final.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said:

This has been a great weekend for Ireland and for sport, with 4 gold medals.

Darragh who only took up competitive swimming in 2006 came close in the 2008 Beijing games winning silver, but his determination and drive provided him with a fantastic win of Gold today.

Jason 'the fastest Paralympian on Earth' won Gold this evening and in doing so created another world record.

Michael is the reigning T37 800m Paralympic double world champion/world record holder over that distance and the 1500m, impressively went on to win Gold tonight and creates a new world record.

Speaking tonight, Minister Leo Varadkar said:

Michael made history in May when he became the first male athlete to set a world record in London’s Olympic Stadium and tonight, he surpassed himself to achieve yet another gold. It is a wonderful result for Michael, his coach Paddy and Team Ireland. I warmly congratulate him on his win, it's a wonderful achievement.

Minister Ring added:

I had the pleasure of attending events in the Olympic stadium tonight and seeing the Irish flag being raised for our fantastic athletes was a very proud moment. I hope they savour every moment of their success. On a superb day for Irish Paralympic sport, I want to congratulate Michael and Team Ireland and to wish all the athletes competing in the coming days every success in their sporting endeavours.