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Kirby Cote ended things at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens the way she started them: with a gold medal.
The 20-year-old University of Winnipeg student captured her fifth gold yesterday in the women's 50-metre freestyle event for visually impaired athletes. It was Cote's seventh medal of the Paralympics, matching her goal of winning a medal in every event she entered.
Cote, who won Canada's first medal with a gold in the 100-metre butterfly last Sunday, won her race with a personal-best time of 28.47 seconds. Chelsey Gotell of Antigonish, N.S., won her fourth medal of the Games by taking the bronze in 29.00. Prue Watt of Australia was the silver medallist with a time of 28.89.
Sixteen-year-old Rhea Schmidt of Winnipeg was ninth with a time of 30.66.
Competing in her seventh event in the nine-day swim meet, Cote said her final swim was energy sapping for both her and Gotell.
"We were tired but we gave it every last little bit of energy that we had and it just turned out for the best," said Cote, who also won golds in 100 and 400 freestyle and 200 individual medley and silvers in the 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke.
"We're really happy that we ended the meet on a really high note."
HAUL FROM THE POOL
Including Cote's gold, Canada added three medals to its haul from the pool yesterday to finish with 15 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze medals.
With the Paralympics set to finish up today, Cote is looking forward to a well-earned vacation in Greece before returning to Winnipeg on Oct. 9.
"I'm really excited to just take some time off," said Cote.
Meanwhile, Montreal's Chantal Petitclerc added her fifth gold medal with a win in the women's 200-metre wheelchair race.
Cote and Petitclerc joined Montreal swimmer Benoit Huot as the only Canadian athletes to pocket five gold medals at the Paralympics. Swimmer Stephanie Dixon finished with eight medals -- one gold, six silver and a bronze.
In other action yesterday, Canada also won a silver in the women's 4x100 medley; Andre Beaudoin of Cowansville, Que., captured gold in the 200-metre wheelchair race for quadriplegics; Stuart McGregor of Ottawa won bronze in the men's 800 for the visually impaired and the Canadian women's wheelchair basketball team defeated Germany for the bronze medal.
Canada is fourth in the medal standings with 70 medals (27 gold, 19 silver and 24 bronze). China leads the medal standings with 141.
The Paralympics wrap up today with Canada playing Australia in the men's wheelchair basketball final.
The Canadian team includes Joey Johnson of Lorette and Winnipeg's Travis Gaertner.