Lex Gillette won his fourth straight Paralympic long jump silver medal, but he was oh-so close to gold.
The 31-year-old led going into the final jump of the competition, but his 6.44-meter leap was surpassed by Brazilian Ricardo Costa de Oliveira, who went 6.52 on the last jump.
Gillette won the first U.S. medal of the Rio Games, competing in the T11 division, the classification for athletes who are blind or see very little light.
Gillette nearly didn’t advance after the first three rounds. He recorded 5.95 meters on his third jump to make the top eight who receive a full complement of six jumps.