Old Elizabethan Tom Aggar has won a gold medal this morning at the Paralympics in Beijing. Headmaster, John Marincowitz, said, “Tom’s fortitude and courage is truly inspirational – what a magnificent young man!”
Tom, the reigning world champion, was pushed hard by Oleksandr Petrenko, but always held a slight advantage over the Ukranian and showed his strength in the latter stages to triumph in 5:22.09.
He said: "It has been an amazing journey since I started rowing one-and-a-half years ago. To come to the Paralympics and end up on top is incredible."
Tom is 24 and a graduate of Warwick university. He was a pupil at Queen Elizabeth’s between 1995 and 2002.
Read the BBC’s coverage of Tom’s victory here.
Read Tom’s profile here.
Read Tom’s latest blog entry here.
Watch an interview with Tom here.