Jason Smyth received a text message from his wife back in Ireland after the his Paralympic 100m first-round heat Thursday.
“Could you make the gap a little bit bigger because my heart was about to stop,” she told Smyth, the two-time defending Paralympic 100m champion in the T13 division.
Smyth did as he was told. The fastest Paralympian of all time won his third straight 100m gold medal, clocking 10.64 seconds. That time was well off his IPC world record of 10.46 seconds set at the London Games, but Smyth did not need to be in record form Friday.