It meant that the 24-year-old from Yorkshire added the London 2012 title to the one she secured at Beijing 2008 as she defeated Clarke (pictured top, left) 6-4 in an enthralling match.

With the British pair level after the first two sets, Brown (pictured top, right) took the third and Clarke the fourth to set up a tense finale.

Clarke went ahead after the first shot of the final set, burying her arrow in the gold centre for 10 to Brown's nine.

Nevertheless, the defending champion maintained her consistency, scoring another nine with her second, while Clarke faltered with eight, leaving one arrow each to decide the gold.

Brown held steady to score another nine, while Clarke's aim wavered at the death and her final arrow of the tournament hit the ring worth seven, her lowest-scoring shot of the day.

Both archers had scored 136 with their 15 arrows but Brown secured the necessary six set points winning two sets to Clarke's one.


"Defending the title has been crazy because you're under so much pressure, especially the last couple of weeks," said Brown, who has reflex sympathetic dystrophy in her feet and therefore competes sitting down or leaning on a stool.

"But winning in London is much better than Beijing.

"The whole tournament and me being able to win a gold in front of my whole family has been marvellous."

It marks another golden chapter in the career of Brown, a triple world champion who made international headlines when she became the first Paralympian to represent England in an able-bodied event at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.

She subsequently won a gold medal in the Indian capital the women's team compound event, beating Canada 232-229 alongside teammates Nicky Hunt and Nichola Simpson.

"I've done lots of able-bodied before but the Paralympics is better," said Brown, who completed a law degree at Leicester University last year, receiving a first.

"It's much friendlier."


Meanwhile, Clarke (pictured above) admitted she was happy to settle for silver behind Brown, adding to the bronze medal she won at Beijing 2008.

"A silver is unreal," said the 30-year-old from Norwich.

"It's fantastic for me.

"If I was going to get beaten in the Paralympics final, there's nobody I'd rather get beaten by than Danielle.

"The whole crowd was behind us and lifted us tremendously but I think we were both nervous at times and fired a few loose arrows.

"Certainly my last arrow could have been better but I'm not too disappointed.

"I shot my very best in the semi-final and could only reproduce it in patches in the final, but I still shot five 10s and I was feeling good throughout."


Britain was guaranteed gold and silver after the semi-finals when Brown and Clarke were too sharp for the Russians, Marina Lyzhnikova and Stepanida Artakhinova (pictured above) respectively.

Brown disposed of Lyzhnikova 6-2 in four ends to win her place in the final, while Clarke swept away the challenge of Artakhinova 6-0 in three to set up the all-GB affair.

Of the beaten semi-finalists, Artakhinova won the all-Russian battle to take bronze, 7-3.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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