One thing you can guarantee when watching Katherinne Wollermann is that she will plunge into the water at the end of her race.
Those that have not seen Wollermann compete before may have been a little concerned when a water rescue crew came to pull her out of the water.
But there was to be no alarm as a smiling Wollermann quickly gave the ‘OK’ gesture to the crowd before celebrating an historic gold for Chile.
Flicking her hair, Wollermann joked that she felt “refreshed” after taking a dip in the Vaires-sur-Marne waters.
“I have a muscle spasm when I finish the race so I always fall out of the boat,” said Wollermann.
“I did it in Rio, I did it in Tokyo and now in France.
“I like to swim.
“I love the water, it’s nice.
“This is a situation that I like to do all the time so people don’t need to be worried.
“When I go to the finish, I just wanted to hug wmy team and sing 'Chi, Chi, Chi, Le, Le, Le, Viva Chile!'.”
There is plenty for Wollermann to celebrate as she made her Paralympic dream come true with gold in the women’s KL1.
It was not only the first time that Wollermann had topped the podium at the Paralympics but also Chile’s first-ever gold in Paracanoe at the Games.
Wollermann came from behind to win the title in a Paralympic Games best time of 51.95 as Ukraine’s Maryna Mazhula claimed silver and Tokyo 2020 champion Edina Mueller of Germany bagged bronze.
"I cannot even describe how I'm feeling right now,” said Wollermann.
“I've been fighting for this for 10 years now, I'm extremely happy to have this in my hand."
Before this year, gold medals eluded Wollermann who has picked up two silvers and three bronzes at the International Canoe Federation Paracanoe World Championships during her career as well as a bronze at Tokyo 2020.
But Wollermann’s hard work is being repaid in 2024 as she was crowned world champion for the first time in May before winning Paralympic gold on Sunday.
“I have changed my mindset,” said the 32-year-old.
“Now I can feel the water and I am concentrated on the space around me and not just on the sport.
“I have a very good team around me, like my doctor, medical team and technical team.
“All these people are cheering and working with me to win this medal.
"I've just been improving from Paralympics to Paralympics, and the proof is this medal.
"I've just been working a lot, training a lot to get here through different weather and different challenges we had to face."
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