Briton claims title ahead of his rivals in 37.63sec.  07 September 2012

David Weir is simply unstoppable. A performance of iron-clad confidence and control brought him an extraordinary third gold medal of the Games on Thursday night, cementing his position as the world’s leading wheelchair athlete and leaving his rivals shattered.

Weir shadowed the leader, China’s Zhang Lixin, from the gun, tucking in second out of lane seven, and never lost that prime position until he ripped off the final bend to win the T54 800m in 1min 37.63sec as the stadium erupted in joy and the DJ spun Werewolf in London, his signature tune.

“I had to dig deep tonight, it did hurt,” said Weir, whose suit came undone on the first lap. “They’re all special. I’ve defended my title in both the distances I’ve won and now I’ve got a gold in the 5,000; I only got bronze in Beijing. I feel like I’m on top of the world at the moment.

“I dreamt about it and wished I’d come away with three gold medals, with maybe another one on the way, but you just dream of things like that.”

Managing not to get caught in an early crash, David steered himself into second position by the end of the first lap, where he wanted to be. 

Just after the bell he upped the speed and refused to let his Chinese competitor out of his sights, putting his head down and launching his decisive attack with 250m to go, winning in a time of one minute 37.63 seconds.

Weir, who won two gold medals in Beijing four years ago, could finish the London Games with four as, having now won the 5000m, 1500m and 800m, he still has the marathon to go on Sunday.

Afterwards the 33-year-old Londoner admitted it had been a tough battle.

‘That was hard work tonight,’ he said.

‘I fell on the warm-up tonight and I really had to dig deep,

‘We’re a good team, all good mates, we all get on and it’s great team spirit. I may not seem like I’m enjoying it, but I am - I just need to recover [for the marathon].’