Irish Paralympian Chosen As Athlete Of The London Games

Double Paralympic champion Michael McKillop has been chosen as the athlete who best exemplified the spirit of the London Games by organizers.

The Irish man was awarded the Whang Youn Dai Acheivement Award during Sunday night's closing ceremony.

His two gold medals were among the highlights of Ireland's most successful Paralympic Games ever with a final medal tally of 16 including eight golds.

Not only did Michael McKilllop achieve the 800m and 1,500m double, but his room mate and friend Jason Smyth emulated him over 100m and 200m.

There were also double gold medals for hand-cyclist Mark Rohan, a former Gaelic footballer with Westmeath.

There was success in the pool too for swimmers Bethany Firth and Darragh McDonald.

But McKillop was at the center of one of the Games most emotional moments, when he was presented with his second gold medal by his mother Catherine after she was chosen to be an ambassador by sponsors P&G

Michael, who had not be informed in advance that his mother would be performing the task, said it was a dream come true:

"I was thinking to myself - 'Mum, you know your seat is up there, not walking out on the track' - that's what I thought to myself. I thought it might be Lord Sebastian Coe.

He is one of my inspirations and heroes. But my mum's my biggest fan. She's done everthing for me. It's my mum and my dad that's got me on the starting line, and where I was last night and Saturday night. I owe it all to them."

Michael's mother Catherine said she felt "so pleased, privilged and honoured" to be able to present her son with his gold medal. She said she and her husband Paddy, who is also Michael's coach, couldn't be prouder of him:

"We're behind the scenes. Michael is the one who gets up six days a week and does all the hard training, and has the discipline to be a full-time athlete. It's down to Michael. We're just there to help him, but Michael's done all the work. And we're very, very proud of him"