Gabrielzinho continues to make headlines at the 17th Paralympic Games in history, saying he felt like a "rocket man" after winning his third gold medal with another outstanding performance in the S2 200m freestyle final.

The 22-year-old, who has no arms or hands and atrophied legs, clocked 3 minutes 58.92 seconds in the La Defense Arena, with neutral Vladimir Danilenko and Chile's Alberto Abarza Diaz finishing second and third respectively.

The third gold for the Brazilian, whose full name is Gabriel Geraldo dos Santos Araujo, follows successes in the 100m backstroke and 50m backstroke, and fulfils pre-Games expectations of his potential in France.

"It is a feeling of mission accomplished. Because I came to Paris to win the three gold medals," said Gabrielzinho. "So I'm very happy."

At Tokyo 2020, the Brazilian won two gold medals and a silver. Now he has achieved his goal of surpassing his previous podium finishes.

In an interview with AFP in August, Gabrielzinho said his dream for the Paris Games was to "turn his silver in the 100m backstroke into gold" and win three gold medals.

"I have the feeling of a mission accomplished because I came all the way here to win the three gold medals. And now I've achieved that goal," said the swimmer, who suffers from phocomelia, a deformity caused by the arrested development of one or more limbs during pregnancy.

In Paris, in the La Defense Arena swimming pool, with around 13,000 spectators in the stands each day, Gabriel dos Santos, who stands 1.21 metres tall, has emerged as one of the stars of the Games. In fact, in the 200m freestyle, Russian swimmer Vladimir Danilenko, who was competing as a neutral, dubbed him the "Rocket Man".

It was a title the Brazilian later agreed with, adding with a smile: "I'm very happy and I hope to continue being the rocketman."

"And as they say, rockets don't have wings, so let's keep taking off," he said.

"I'm really, really happy. I feel like I'm a rocket man, and rockets don't go backwards, they always go straight and forward.

The smiling and dancing Brazilian has become one of the stars of the Paris Games, and his moves have captured the attention of fans around the world.

The dancing "is a way of representing all the Brazilian fans," explained the charismatic Brazilian.

"They cheer for me in the water, so I represent them out of the water. And I want to see everyone dancing in Paris."

Fans will have another chance to enjoy Gabrielzinho's moves on Friday when he competes in the heats of the men's S3 50m freestyle, a different category to his other medals.

However, the swimmer does not believe he has any chance of making it onto the podium one last time in Paris.

"It will be an S3. So I will be competing just for the fun of it," admitted Gabrielzinho, who not only won the three gold medals he was after, but whose personality also won over the demanding and local French crowd at La Defense Arena, making him one of the stars of the Paris Paralympic Games and earning him the nickname "Rocketman" in the unanimous recognition of his competitors.