14th September 2009,

Vernon wins second gold in 5000 metres

Melinda Vernon last night strode to victory in the 5,000 metres to add a second Gold medal to her collection as she completed her domination of the distance events at the 2009 Taipei Deaflympic Games.

Vernon, who won Gold in the 10,000 metres last Monday produced another emphatic victory breaking the 5,000 metre world record, held by Deaflympic legend and current Australian Athletics team manager Joanne Lambert by almost 45 seconds to claim the Gold in a time of 16:23.

In a similar fashion to her 10,000 metres victory Vernon went out hard and opened up a commanding early lead in the hot and humid conditions and was never headed during the race to finish almost one minute ahead of the silver medallist Russian Olga Yakubovskaya. 

The victory was a gutsy win by Vernon who has struggled with illness following her energy sapping performance in the extreme heat and humidity in the 10,000 metres, which caused her to pull out of the 1,500 metres on Wednesday so she could focus on recovering for the 5,000 metres.

"Winning tonight caps off a great few weeks at the Deaflympics and I am so happy to finish off strongly tonight. The 10,000m earlier in the week took a lot out of me so it’s a big relief that I was able to perform well tonight,” said Vernon.

"The Deaflympics has been a fantastic learning experience for me and I am very proud to win two Gold medals for Australia. I would like to thank everyone here in Taipei with the Australian Team and everyone back in Australia for their support,” said Vernon.

A polite and humble champion Vernon now joins the list of Australian Greats who have been able to win multiple Gold medals at a Deaflympic Games. Melinda was also able to emulate Joanne Lambert who claimed the 5,000m and 10,000m double at the Rome 2001 Deaflympic Games.

There is little time to rest for Vernon who will return to Australia for a few days before jumping back on a plane to compete in Los Angeles in the United States in a road event which was part of the prize for wining the City 2 Surf.

At only 23 years of age a bright future now lays ahead of Melinda who now has her sights set on the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and 2012 London Olympics.

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