ATHLETICS Fiji president Albert Miller says Iliesa Delana's emphatic feat at the Paralympic Games is a challenge to the other athletes in the country.
The former national athlete hailed Delana's gold medal win in the T42 men's high jump event in London as the national athletics biggest achievement so far.
Miller said they were proud to be associated with Paralympics Fiji in helping them with the development of disabled athletes.
He said Paralympics Fiji was following their development program and they received regular updates on their progress from a rep representing them in the Athletics Fiji board.
Miller said they would continue to assist them in whatever way possible.
"Iliesa has been through lots of challenges and we are proud of his achievement," Miller said.
"His coach (Freddy Fatiaki) was one of the students under our umbrella and a lot of credit goes to him for coaching Iliesa for a number of years."
While Miller congratulated Delana for setting a new regional record of 1.74 metres, he said the Paralympics cannot be compared to the Olympic Games.
Miller said people needed to understand that the two events were "totally different".
"Olympic Games are very competitive and athletes have to go through a lot of qualifying rounds," he said.
"You cannot really compare the two but it's really inspirational to see what athletes can do at the Paralympics despite the challenges they face."