PARIS (AP) — Rebecca Hart won the dressage gold medal aboard Floratina at the Paris Paralympics and the United States won two other equestrian medals on Tuesday.
Britain’s Natasha Baker, a six-time gold medalist, was the favorite but finished third in the Grade III category for riders with severe impairments in both legs but minimal or no trunk impairment.
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Fiona Howard of the U.S. competes in the equestrian grade II individual event at the Palace of Versailles, taking home the gold medal in her first Paralympic Games at the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kileigh Kane)
Rebecca Hart of the U.S. competes in the equestrian grade III individual event at the Palace of Versailles, taking home the gold medal at the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kileigh Kane)
Rogier Dorsman, of the Netherlands, celebrates after winning at Men's 200m Individual Medley -SM11, during the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Roxanne Trunnell of the U.S. celebrates her silver medal in the equestrian grade I individual event at the Palace of Versailles, at the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kileigh Kane)
Rebecca Hart of the U.S. competes in the equestrian grade III individual event at the Palace of Versailles, taking home the gold medal at the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kileigh Kane)
Cuba's Omara Durand Elias competes in the women's 400 m. T12 during the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner celebrates after winning the women's 1500 m. T54 during the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Cuba's Robiel Yankiel Sol Cervantes competes at the men's long jump T47 during the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Cuba's Robiel Yankiel Sol Cervantes celebrates after winning the men's long jump T47 during the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
“It’s been 25 years of trying to get to this point and being close many, many times,” said the 39-year-old Hart. “To actually get it, I feel like I’m going to wake up at any moment. It’s just surreal. It feels like a dream.”
Hart’s best previous result at the Paralympics was a team bronze medal in Tokyo.
Fiona Howard won gold for the U.S. in the Grade II category on Diamond Dunes and Roxanne Trunnell took silver on Fan Tastico H in Grade I — which has the most severely impaired riders.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better (horse) to do my first Paralympic Games,” the 25-year-old Howard said.
She praised the impact of team veterans Hart and Trunnell, who is also 39.
“It’s helped me so much,” Howard said. “All my teammates have been to at least one (Paralympic) Games and numerous world championships.”
Howard got distracted by her surroundings in the regal gardens at the Palace of Versailles, once the home of French royalty.
“I had to refocus myself," she said. "It’s such a beautiful venue.”
It was Trunnell's fourth Paralympic medal after two individual golds and a team bronze at the Tokyo Games in 2021. She contracted a virus in 2009 that caused swelling in her brain and left her needing a wheelchair.
The United States routed France 82-47 in men’s wheelchair basketball to advance to the semifinals.
The Americans, looking for their third straight gold medal, will face Canada on Thursday for a spot in the final.
Tuning out the spirited French crowd, the Americans never trailed and held France to just 36% shooting.
Jake Williams poured in 23 points and had 10 assists, and Brian Bell scored 20 and pulled down 14 rebounds. Christophe Carlier led France with 11 points.
Britain faces Germany in the other semifinal.
Alexandr Kostin won the T12 1,500 meters for athletes with minor visual impairment, in a Paralympic record time of 3 minutes, 44.43 seconds, four seconds faster than the previous mark.
“I haven’t realized that I have won gold yet," said Kostin, who, as a Russian, is competing as a neutral. "It feels like I’m sleeping through a magical dream.”
Yeltsin Jacques of Brazil also set a record in the T11 1,500 for athletes with severe visual impairments who use guides.
Jacques won in 3:55.82, breaking the world and Paralympic records he set in winning the Tokyo gold.
“After everything I’ve been through — injury, illness — to come here and get a medal, it’s very special," Jacques said.
Cuban long jumper Robiel Yankiel Sol Cervantes secured his second consecutive Paralympic gold at 7.41 meters, winning by nine centimeters.
China’s Hao Wang was second and Russia’s Nikita Kotukov third at 7.05 under a neutral banner.
“It means a lot to me to win back-to-back Paralympic titles," Cervantes said. "I only wish I could have improved my distance because I had trained for that.”
Cervantes dedicated his victory to his late grandmother.
“I have a debt to her because she left me a task that I couldn’t achieve today, to jump eight meters,” Cervantes said. “I was training a lot for that. It wasn’t today, but let’s move on.”
In the women’s 50 meters backstroke final, Chinese swimmers took the top three spots.
Lu Dong won the gold medal ahead of He Senggao and Liu Yu in the S5 class, for swimmers with severely impaired movement in the torso and legs or missing limbs.
The 32-year-old Lu, who lost both arms after being hit by a car at the age of six, is now an eight-time gold medalist and has achieved the feat of winning gold at each of the last four Paralympic Games.
“I’m really excited and happy to have the gold again today," Lu said.
”(Our secret) is to support each other," He commented when asked about China's sweep of medal in the category. "That’s how we got all the medals, we support each other.”
The men's 50 meters backstroke S5 final saw the same scenario as three Chinese swimmers also claimed all three medals.
Yuan Weiyi won the race at La Défense Arena, beating Guo Jincheng and Wang Lichao.
AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire in Versailles contributed to this report, as did Avery Hill, a Penn State journalism student.
AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games
Fiona Howard of the U.S. competes in the equestrian grade II individual event at the Palace of Versailles, taking home the gold medal in her first Paralympic Games at the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kileigh Kane)
Rebecca Hart of the U.S. competes in the equestrian grade III individual event at the Palace of Versailles, taking home the gold medal at the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kileigh Kane)
Rogier Dorsman, of the Netherlands, celebrates after winning at Men's 200m Individual Medley -SM11, during the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Roxanne Trunnell of the U.S. celebrates her silver medal in the equestrian grade I individual event at the Palace of Versailles, at the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kileigh Kane)
Rebecca Hart of the U.S. competes in the equestrian grade III individual event at the Palace of Versailles, taking home the gold medal at the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kileigh Kane)
Cuba's Omara Durand Elias competes in the women's 400 m. T12 during the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner celebrates after winning the women's 1500 m. T54 during the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Cuba's Robiel Yankiel Sol Cervantes competes at the men's long jump T47 during the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Cuba's Robiel Yankiel Sol Cervantes celebrates after winning the men's long jump T47 during the 2024 Paralympics, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to three economists who have studied why some countries are rich and others poor and have documented that freer, open societies are more likely to prosper.
The work by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson “demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity,” the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the announcement in Stockholm.
Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Robinson does his research at the University of Chicago.
Jakob Svensson, chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said their analysis has provided "a much deeper understanding of the root causes of why countries fail or succeed.”
Reached by the academy in Athens, Greece, where he was to speak at a conference, the Turkish-born Acemoglu, 57, said he was astonished by the award.
“You never expect something like this," he said.
Acemoglu said the research honored by the prize underscores the value of democratic institutions.
“I think broadly speaking the work that we have done favors democracy,” he said in a telephone call with the Nobel committee and reporters in Stockholm.
But, he added: “Democracy is not a panacea. Introducing democracy is very hard. When you introduce elections, that sometimes creates conflict.”
In an interview with The Associated Press, Robinson, 64, said he doubts that China can sustain its economic prosperity as long as it keeps a repressive political system.
“There’s many examples in world history of societies like that that do well for 40, 50 years," Robinson said by phone. “What you see is that’s never sustainable. ... The Soviet Union did well for 50 or 60 years.''
Robinson said many societies have successfully made the transition to what he, Acemoglu and Johnson call an “inclusive society.’’
“Look at the United States," Robinson said. “This was a country of slavery, of privilege, where women were not allowed to take part in the economy or vote.”
“Every country that is currently relatively inclusive and open made that transition," he added. "In the modern world, you’ve seen that in South Korea, in Taiwan, in Mauritius.’’
Acemoglu and Robinson wrote the 2012 bestseller, “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty," which argued that manmade problems were responsible for keeping countries poor.
In their work, the winners looked, for instance, at the city of Nogales, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border.
Despite sharing the same geography, climate and a common culture, life is very different on either side of the border. In Nogales, Arizona, to the north, residents are relatively well-off and live long lives; most children graduate from high school. To the south, in Mexico’s Nogales, Sonora, residents are much poorer, and organized crime and corruption abound.
The difference, the economists found, is a U.S. system that protects property rights and gives citizens a say in their government.
Acemoglu expressed worry Monday that democratic institutions in the United States and Europe were losing support from the population.
“Support for democracy is at an all-time low, especially in the U.S., but also in Greece and in the UK and France,“ Acemoglu said on the sidelines of the conference in an Athens suburb.
“And I think that is a symbol of how people are disappointed with democracy,” he said. “They think democracy hasn’t delivered what it promised.''
Robinson agreed. "Clearly, you had an attack on inclusive institutions in this country," he said. “You had a presidential candidate who denied that he lost the last election. So President (Donald) Trump rejected the democratic rule of the citizens. ... Of course, I’m worried. I’m a concerned citizen.”
Johnson told the AP that economic pressures were alienating many Americans.
“A lot of people who were previously in the middle class were hit very hard by the combination of globalization, automation, the decline of trade unions, and a sort of shift more broadly in corporate philosophy,'' Johnson said. "So instead of workers being a resource to be developed, which they were in the 19th and early 20th century, they became a cost to be minimized ... Now, that squeezed the middle class.’’
"We have, as a country, failed to deliver in recent decades on what we were previously very good at, which was sharing prosperity,'' Johnson said.
One key for the future, Johnson said, is how societies manage new technologies such as artificial intelligence.
“AI could go either way," he said. "AI could either empower people with a lot of education, make them more highly skilled, enable them to do more tasks and get more pay. Or it could be another massive wave of automation that pushes the remnants of the middle down to the bottom. And then, yes, you’re not going to like the political outcomes.’’
In their work, the economists studied institutions that European powers such as Britain and Spain put in place when they colonized much of the world starting in the 1600s. They brought different policies to different places, giving later researchers a “natural experiment" to analyze.
Colonies that were sparsely populated offered less resistance to foreign rule and therefore attracted more settlers. In those places, colonial governments tended to establish more inclusive economic institutions that “incentivized settlers to work hard and invest in their new homeland. In turn, this led to demands for political rights that gave them a share of profits,” the Nobel committee said.
In more densely populated places that attracted fewer settlers, the colonial regimes limited political rights and set up institutions that focused on “benefiting a local elite at the expense of the wider population," it said.
“Paradoxically, this means that the parts of the colonized world that were relatively the most prosperous around 500 years ago are now those that are relatively poor,” it added, noting that India’s industrial production exceeded the American colonies’ in the 18th century.
The economics prize is formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The central bank established it in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel, the 19th-century Swedish businessman and chemist who invented dynamite and established the five Nobel Prizes.
Though Nobel purists stress that the economics prize is technically not a Nobel Prize, it is always presented together with the others on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
Nobel honors were announced last week in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace.
Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands, and Wiseman from Washington. AP reporters David Keyton in Berlin and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report.
Economist Simon Johnson poses for a photograph after jointly winning the Nobel memorial prize in economics, at his home in Washington, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Economist Simon Johnson poses for a photograph after jointly winning the Nobel memorial prize in economics, at his home in Washington, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Economist Simon Johnson poses for a photograph after jointly winning the Nobel memorial prize in economics, at his home in Washington, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Economist Simon Johnson poses for a photograph after jointly winning the Nobel memorial prize in economics, at his home in Washington, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Economist Simon Johnson poses for a photograph with his dog Zoya after winning the Nobel memorial prize in economics with Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, at his home in Washington, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
In this combination image left to right; Economist Daron Acemoglu in Athens Greece, Oct. 14, 2024, Economist Simon Johnson in Washington, Oct. 14, 2024, and Economist James A. Robinson in Chicago, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo)
Nobel prize winner in Economics, James A. Robinson, responded to a question during an interview with The Associated Press at his home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Nobel prize winner in Economics, James A. Robinson makes a selfie for the Nobel Foundation with his wife, Dr. Maria Angelica Bautista, and their son Adrian at their home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Nobel prize winner in Economics, James A. Robinson, kisses his wife, Dr. Maria Angelica Bautista, at his home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Nobel prize winner in Economics, James A. Robinson, looks over a selfie he made for the Nobel Foundation with his wife Dr. Maria Angelica Bautista, and son Adrian at their home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Nobel prize winner in Economics, James A. Robinson, gives an interview to the Associated Press from his home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Nobel prize winner in Economics, James A. Robinson, gives an interview to the Associated Press from his home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Nobel prize winner in Economics, James A. Robinson, gives an interview to the Associated Press from his home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Nobel prize winner in Economics, James A. Robinson, gives an interview to the Associated Press from his home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, stands in an elevator after speaking to the media during a conference in Athens, Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
This image provided by the The University of Chicago shows James A. Robinson, one of three winners of the Nobel memorial prize in economics. (The University of Chicago via AP)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Journalists listen when Jan Teorell of the Nobel assembly announces the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - Daron Acemoglu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology smiles in this image taken on June 22, 2019 in Kiel, Germany, as he and Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson won the Nobel prize in economics for research into reasons why some countries succeed and others fail. (Frank Molter, dpa via AP, File)
The Nobel memorial prize in economics awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson, seen on screen, during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson, seen on screen, during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
The Nobel economics prize is being announced in Sweden
The Nobel economics prize is being announced in Sweden
FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)
