Mpumelelo Mhlongo overjoyed to grace podium in front of his family

Mhlongo claimed first place on the podium in the T44 men’s 100m sprint in a time of 11.12 seconds, ahead of Cuba’s Yamel Vives Suarez and Malaysian Eddy Bernard. Speaking to SABC Sport Mhlongo says what made the performance more special was the presence of his family at the prestigious Stade de France.

"I think it's extremely overwhelming one to open up the medal tally for Team South Africa and the fact that it's a golden opening means I hope, there's many, many more to come,” Mhlongo said.

“The most special thing about that moment is that I had my mother in the stands, my wife, the in laws, chosen mother.           So, the family was here to witness it for themselves and going back to them and giving them a big hug is something you can never script  in any novel. So, that was the most special part about this."

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The 30-year-old was one of the flag bears for Team SA alongside swimmer Kat Swanepoel.

He says it has been an honour to contribute and represent South Africa at the highest level as one of the senior athletes.

"You know what, I think it's not about Mpumelelo the individual at all, I've just had that opportunity to be one of the senior athletes that have had so many of the legends in para-sports and just sports in general walk this path and remind me that there's a bigger story at play that is, we're putting South Africa on the map, South Africa comes first,” he added.

“Nobody is more important than our country and as long as we're adding value to that nation, we should see a lot of our people succeed in the future and in the present."