The nine days of Swimming competition saw 141 gold medals awarded and over 100 world records broken at the National Aquatics Center. A number of athletes go home with multiple medals, notably Natalie du Toit (South Africa) who came to Beijing with a clear goal and now leaves triumphant.
Du Toit took five out of a possible five golds at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, setting three world and two Paralympic records. The astounding athlete revealed she has plans to be back for London 2012, aiming for both the Olympics and Paralympics.
Brazil's Daniel Dias astonished the crowd at the beginning of the week, taking three golds in the first three days of competition. Dias swam a grueling 11 events in the nine days and leaves his first Paralympic Games with a grand total of four gold, four silver and one bronze as well as three new world records.
Fellow Brazilian Andre Brasil also had an incredible week of Swimming in the Water Cube. Three of Brasil's four gold medals were won in world record times and the fourth was a Paralympic record. He also took a silver in the Men's 200m Individual Medley - SM10.
Great Britain's David Roberts, competing in his third Paralympics, picked up four golds at Beijing and 11 overall in his Paralympic career.
One of the youngest Paralympic athletes competing at Beijing, 13-year-old Eleanor Simmonds (Great Britain), is definitely one to watch for the future after she won two golds and set a new world record in her S6 class.
Jessica Long's (United States) tough schedule, competing on seven of the nine days of competition, did not hinder her performance in the pool. Long set a new world record and collected four golds, one silver and a bronze throughout the week.
Erin Popovich of the United States took the gold in her first four events, breaking two world records and setting two new Paralympic records. Popovich, whose overall Paralympic gold medal count now stands at 14, also won another two silver medals in her S7 class events.
Australia's Matthew Cowdrey succeeded in winning a medal in every one of his eight events. Cowdrey not only won five gold and three silver medals, but he broke the world record in each one of his gold medal events, including the Men's 4x100m Medley - 34 points.
New Zealand has a swimming star in the form of 15-year-old Sophie Pascoe, who won three golds and one silver this week. Pascoe and Shireen Sapiro (South Africa) swam an identical record breaking time of 1:10.57 in the Women's 100m Backstroke - S10 final, which meant an extra gold medal was needed, bringing the total number of golds awarded in the Water Cube to 141.
Two Canadians took all but one of the S13 Women's Swimming golds. Valerie Grand Maison took the first three and Chelsey Gotell picked up the traces as the week progressed to take the following two events' gold medals. Grand Maison and Gotell also set two new world records each and take home five gold, three silver and three bronze between them.
The Men's S12 class events were dominated by three swimmers who found themselves sharing the podium on four separate occasions. Maksym Veraksa (Ukraine), Sergii Klippert (Ukraine) and Alexander Nevolin-Svetov (Russia) took turns taking the three medals, with Veraksa being the strongest of the three, ending with four gold and one bronze. After the Men's 100m Backstroke - S12, in which Veraksa took his only bronze, Nevolin-Svetov and Klippert stood above him for the first time taking the gold and silver respectively.
Russia's Oxana Savchenko did not falter in Beijing, concentrating on three S12 events and taking the gold in each, setting two world records along the way.
Spain's Enhamed Enhamed was another swimmer to produce amazing results, claiming four golds and breaking two world records and one Paralympic record in his class S11 events. Also competing for Spain, Maria Teresa Perales broke two world records and won three gold, one silver and a bronze in her class SB4 and S5 events.
China was steadily picking up medals throughout the week and then suddenly had a huge sweep on Saturday taking five gold, two silver and a bronze in one day. Xie Wang broke a Paralympic record in the Women's 100m Freestyle - S11 that had stood since the 1984 Paralympic Games in New York.
Du Jianping was the most successful Chinese swimmer with four golds, one silver and one bronze, followed by Wang Xiaofu with two gold, two silver and two bronze.
The United States finished atop the medals table with 17 golds and 44 medals in total, a big improvement on Athens 2004 where their total medals tally was 35.
Behind the United States was China who just beat Ukraine on the medals table with the very last medal in the Swimming competition, winning gold in the Men's 4x50m Medley - 20 points, bringing their gold tally to 13 with 52 medals in total, the largest number of any country.
Ukraine who took three gold, a silver and four bronze on the last day of competition alone, came third with a total of 13 gold and 43 medals overall.
Great Britain has four years to prepare if they want to challenge the strong US team on home turf in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Great Britain placed fourth in the medals table, taking a total of 11 gold and 41 medals in all.
(BOCOG September 16, 2008)