Four years on and Hynd makes good upgrading silver at Paralympics

Oliver Hynd on the left, brother Sam on the right, with silver and bronze respectively, sandwiching China's Yinan Wang, who wore the gold and had the biggest smile.

It happened 1470 days ago at London 2012 and, for Ollie Hynd, every one of those days has hurt.

But he finally got the picture he finally wanted after winning the men's 400m freestyle S8 final at the Paralympic Games in Rio, edging out China's Xu Haijiao and Wang into the minor medals.

"I don't think there has been a day where I have not thought about London and how disappointed I was not to get the gold, so it makes it all worth it now," said Hynd, who clocked a world record 4:21.89.

"I was determined to prove that I was the best in the world and it's the best way to start the meet.

"I'm a competitor and I just hate losing, nothing more motivates me. It's hard to win but to hold onto titles is even harder and that's the challenge for me now.

"This shows I'm in great shape and hopefully that can translate into my other swims. I need to focus on my next race.

"I have set myself very high standards and I'm even a little bit disappointed with the time. I wanted to go under 4:20, if I'm honest.

"But I've worked so hard for that, I can't wait to get on the podium and get my gold medal."

Hynd's time erased his older brother’s Paralympic record time from Beijing - another nice boast to go along with his gold.

Like all brothers getting the upper hand on each other means as much as getting the upper hand on the rest of the world but the 21-year old, who will also race in the 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 200m medley, found time to pay tribute to his family inspiration.

"I think that's the last record he held and it's nice to keep it in the family," he added.

"I was fortunate enough to be in Beijing to watch him become a Paralympic champion eight years ago. He showed me what was needed to work hard and reach this level.

“It's nice to take his record but I'm very grateful for what he showed me and how he inspired me."

Elsewhere, it was double success for ParalympicsGB in the women's 100m backstroke S14 as Bethany Firth defended her Paralympic title ahead of team-mate Jessica-Jane Applegate, who claimed bronze.

And world record holder Jonathan Fox was edged into silver in the defence of his men's 100m backstroke S7 title from London by Ukraine's Ievgeni Bogodaiko, reversing the positions from four years ago.

"I don't know what happened, I'm gutted and don't know what to say, it's just a feeling of shock and disappointment," he said.

Sportsbeat 2016