Wood hails support
Shelly Woods hailed the best atmosphere ever as she qualified for the final of the T54 5,000m.
Last Updated: 31/08/12 12:19pm
Wheelchair racer Shelly Woods hailed the best atmosphere she had ever experienced as she qualified for the final of the T54 5,000m on the opening morning of Paralympic athletics.
The Blackpool athlete was the first Briton to be introduced to the near enough full house and was met with the same huge cheer which has greeted every home competitor throughout the last month.
The 26-year-old, who was paralysed from the waist down after falling from a tree aged 11, came home third in her heat.
She hit the front to roars from the crowd with 300m to go, but was just edged out down the home straight as she finished in 13 minutes 12.25 seconds.
Immense
The double medallist from Beijing said: "(The atmosphere) was absolutely amazing. I've never experienced anything like it, it was immense.
"There are so many people out there and I guess you can take it in different ways, but for me it can only be good because they are all shouting for me."
Edith Wolf, the Swiss winner of the second heat, added: "I've never experienced such a crowd in the morning."
