Video: Brazil’s Gabriel Araujo accomplishes goal of bringing home 3 gold medals from 2024 Paralympics

Since the last Paralympic Games, Brazilian swimmer Gabriel Geraldo dos Santos Araujo has been on a mission to claim three gold medals in Paris.
Araujo accomplished his goal in dominant fashion at the 2024 Paralympic Games.
Competing in the S2 classification, Araujo, who has no arms or hands and atrophied legs, powers through the water with incredible speed, earning him the nickname “The Rocket Man” from fellow competitor Vladimir Danilenko.
“I feel like I am ‘The Rocket Man,’” Araujo said in response, per World Para Swimming. “Rockets don’t go back; they always go straight and forwards.”
In Tokyo, Araujo won gold in the men’s 50-meter backstroke and 200-meter freestyle but fell short in the 100-meter backstroke, taking silver behind Chile’s Alberto Abarza by 2.07 seconds, according to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
But this summer, Araujo dominated the 100-meter backstroke, winning gold with a time of 1:53.67, more than seven seconds ahead of the second place competitor.
Danilenko, competing as a neutral athlete, took silver with a time of 2:01.34, while Abarza finished third in 2:01.97.
Araujo also triumphed in the 50-meter backstroke and 200-meter freestyle, with Danilenko and Abarza once again rounding out the podium in second and third, respectively.
In addition to his standard events, Araujo competed in the men’s SM3 150-meter individual medley.
Though he did not win a medal in the race due to competing outside his SM2 classification, he broke the world record twice for the SM2 category during the event.
Araujo first set a record in the preliminaries with a time of 3:15.06, then shaved nearly a full second off in the finals, finishing in 3:14.02.
“I have a feeling of completed mission,” Araujo said, per World Para Swimming. “I came all this way to Paris to win the three golds, and now I’ve done it. I’m really happy.”