"And basically that's why we are here. It costs a lot of money, but this is something we wanted to do," she said.

The family waited on hot afternoons outside the athletes' residential areas to meet Tahlia, and planned to stay through the Sept. 6-17 Games to watch her races.

About 40 minutes after the race, Tahlia was brought back by her coach to the stand to join her family. Natalie seated her daughter on her lap, and wiped the sweat off her head. The sisters reached over to congratulate Tahlia, and squeezed together for photos to capture the brief moment of reunion before the youngster returned to warm-down exercises.

Tahlia failed to enter the final of 100m T37 category. But her mother looked at the bright side. "We didn't come here only looking for medals. We are proud that she is here to compete," Natalie said.

Families of the athletes get no medals for their sacrifices, but they are always there at moments of triumphs or defeats.

Last month, an emotional and weeping mother was a fixture of American swimmer Michael Phelps' eight-gold Olympic feat. The picture of an American shooter Matt Emmons burying his head in his wife's arms after a devastating last shot and emerging with a stoic attitude toward defeat also testified for the role of the family.

Like the Olympics, the Paralympics is also a stage for family affairs. Some runners who are visually impaired have their spouses as guides on the track. The wife of a South Korean champion shooter not only provided emotional support but took up the role of an assistant to load her husband's gun.

Chinese swimmer He Junquan said he felt heavily indebted to his family because he never found time out of a busy training schedule for birthday celebrations for his four-year-old son.

From her childhood, Tahlia was accompanied by her family to develop her physical abilities through swimming and rugby, and to doctors for plastic braces to hold her right ankle and foot.

"When she was younger, she gets a new AFO (ankle-foot orthosis) two or three times a year. You can see that because the braces were rubbing her," Natalie recalled.

"She had two braces in the last 12 months, and when she is about 17 and a half, she might have to get another new brace for her leg," she said.