The streets of the Gold Coast were lined with passionate fans on Sunday as wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley donned the green and gold for the last time to cap a decorated and inspiring career.

And they had a magnificent performance to cheer, as Fearnley posted victory in the men’s T54 marathon.

Fearnley fought back tears as he described just how much winning the gold medal meant to him and his family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zbz9mGC1_s

“It’s bloody awesome,” he said.

“You see the emotion on the faces of your family and just sharing that with people, it’s just full-on.

“The thought you can be a part of people feeling so much joy, it’s just overwhelming.”

Fearnley completed the 42.195km course in one hour, 30 minutes and 25 seconds, easily beating England’s John Smith and Simon Lawson, who took silver and bronze respectively.

Fearnley’s bursting-at-the-seams CV says it all: 13 Paralympic medals, including three gold, seven world titles and 35 marathon victories.

For his sporting feats alone, he is an icon of Australian sport.

But Fearnley, born without the lower part of his spine, is about far more than results.

His story – and his passion as an ambassador for people with a disability – has played a significant role in para-sport becoming more mainstream, something that has never been more evident than at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The largest integrated para-sport program at a multi-sport event has been a significant feature of the Games, with huge crowds roaring on athletes who rarely get to compete on the biggest stage.

‘Pretty special’

Australian sprinter Evan O’Hanlon – a five-time Paralympics gold medallist – has really benefitted from the decision to up the integration at these Games.

The cerebral palsy sufferer’s category, T38, had never been included at a Commonwealth Games and he had never competed in front of a home crowd.

“I’ve never had the chance to compete alongside some of the best able-bodied athletes,” he told The New Daily.

“I have a lot of friends and training partners who are able-bodied so it has been great to experience the Games vibe and the village with them. It’s been really different but great.”

O’Hanlon, sporting a spectacular moustache, was roared on by a big Carrara Stadium crowd on Monday as he stormed to victory in the men’s T38 100-metre race.

O’Hanlon was elated to win on home soil. Photo: Getty

“To compete and win a final in front of a big crowd at home, it was just on another level,” he said.

“When my name was announced I felt the whole crowd cheer and they all wanted me to win.”

For the first time, O’Hanlon is soaking up what comes with winning a big race on home soil.

“Just two days ago, I was walking around Coles with my wife and someone came up to me and said ‘Hey, didn’t you win a gold medal?’,” he said.

“I wasn’t in Australia clothes or anything, so to be spotted like that was pretty special. It’s never happened before.

Also, I was sent something from the BBC where the great Michael Johnson was analysing my race and my technique and saying that I did well!

“When would that ever happen if there wasn’t integration at the Commonwealth Games?”

What do the able-bodied athletes think?

Unsurprisingly, every athlete surveyed was in absolute favour of integration, and Australia’s pole-vault gold medallist, Kurtis Marschall, wants to see more of it.

“It is absolutely phenomenal seeing the para guys out there experiencing this like we do, able-bodied guys,” he told The New Daily.

“It is absolutely awesome that they are in this program and I’m looking forward to even more being included in the future.”

The greatest athlete of all time, Usain Bolt, may now be retired but he echoed Marschall’s view when quizzed by The New Daily.

“It’s brilliant,” Bolt said.

Bolt has been on the Gold Coast watching the Games. Photo: Getty

“It brings everyone together and makes it much more exciting for me.

“To see people with disabilities doing their best … you can tell they train hard. To have a lot of people cheering them on, it’s great.”

When told about Bolt’s quotes, O’Hanlon cannot hide his joy.

“It’s pretty special to hear that. And that’s the thing – able-bodied athletes know and see that we train just as hard as them,” he said.

“We just have some reasons we can’t go as quick as them.

“But for Usain to say that, it’s great, because the public will see and realise that we do put in as much work.”

Integration at the Olympic Games?

Such successful integration on the Gold Coast has inevitably led to questions about whether it should be considered at the Olympic Games.

But both O’Hanlon and Bolt think things should stay as they are.

“To be honest, I think the Commonwealth Games is the perfect place to do it [integration],” O’Hanlon said.

“It is small enough to do it, but it’s also large enough to do it, if that makes sense.

“At an Olympics, I think it would be logistically really difficult.

“And I think the Paralympics really benefits from the Olympic Games going before it.

Leave the Paralympic Games as they are, athletes say. Photo: Getty

“There’s a couple of weeks where it’s on everyone’s mind, then there’s a break and then there’s the Paralympics and the media are really hungry for stories.

“I think the Paralympics produces a lot of really amazing stories and they might get lost during the Olympics.”

And Bolt said it is not like the Paralympics goes under the radar.

“At the Paralympics, the crowd in Rio was massive,” he said.

“They [fans] do go out and support them and give the event a lot of life.”