ATHENS, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Paralympic athletes demonstrate their extraordinary talents to the world through their sporting performance that sometimes even exceed that by able-bodied athletes.

    Many records set by athletes with physical or mental disabilities can match those set by their able-bodied counterparts.The world record of men's 100m sprint of 10.72 seconds held by upper-limb-amputated Nigerian Adjibola Adeoye of Nigeria is only 94 hundreds of a second slower than the able-bodied world mark of 9.78 seconds, is held by American Tim Montgomery.

    The world record of 12.29 seconds in women's 100m run held by American Marla Runyan, who has a visual impairment, is only 1.79 seconds slower than the able-bodied record of 10.49 seconds held by American Florence Griffith-Joyner.

    The four men's and two women's powerlifting world records are held by athletes with disabilities.

    In several cases, the Paralympic records are better than the able-bodied records for up to 14.5kg.

    In swimming, the men's 50m freestyle record of 24.67 seconds held by the Paralympic athlete Andrey Strokin of Russia is only 3.03 seconds slower than the able-bodied record of 21.64 seconds held by Russia's star swimmer Alexander Popov.

    Proving that a wheelchair is not a disadvantage but sometimes an advantage, some athletic records set by athletes with disabilities are significantly faster than their able-bodied counterparts. In men's 800m, South African Ernst Van Dyk's record of one minute 32.17 seconds is 8.94 seconds faster than the 1:41.11 mark held by Dane Wilson Kipketer.

    The list of similar examples seems endless, but people do recognize the unremitting efforts by Paralymic athletes in all their sports. Enditem