The state court in Bonn, where the International Paralympic Committee is based, on Tuesday rejected the athletes’ bid for an injunction forcing the IPC to allow them to compete.
Advertisement
Two new events – canoe-kayak and triathlon – make their appearance on the 22-sport menu, with competitors from 161 nations – but not one Russian among them. According to the Brazilian Paralympic Committee, Brazil’s goal is to stay in the top five in the medal standings after placing seventh in London in 2012. “As far as Rio 2016 is concerned, we hope to learn from the IPC as much as we learn from the IOC”.
“Everybody in the crowd was legitimately excited”, said USA swimmer Brad Snyder, who won two gold medals in London.
The Games have been overshadowed by financial worries and the slow sale of tickets.
And thanks to financial support from private sponsors amounting to 250 million reals ($A101.75 million), the city of Rio and Brazilian government could ensure all the teams were able to arrive, even if promised subsidies arrived late.
Eng made his Paralympic debut at the 2004 Athens Games, where Canada won gold. The athletes who will march in Wednesday night’s opening ceremony at historic Maracana Stadium said their performances won’t be affected, and they hope the new, higher profile of the Paralympics won’t be either.
Blind sprinter Liu Cuiqing last year inflicted the first defeat on reigning T11 400-meter champion Terezinha Guilhermina of Brazil in nine years. It would be a small increase over the 20th-place finish, with 31 medals, from four years ago in London, but would still be way off the riches Canada enjoyed in years past.
Meanwhile Britain’s Weir is in Rio to add to his six gold medals.
Describing how “sport can inspire a better world for disabled people”, Tim Reddish OBE, president and chairman of the British Paralympic Association said: “The Rio ParalympicsGB team is our largest overseas team”.
“Everyone wants to win a medal and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want a medal but with everything that has happened since London, success for me would be just giving it everything and taking each game as it comes”.
“I just went insane – every time I came home from training, I was watching all the repeats and watching them all do so well, it just blew me away. My coach is telling me that I’m quicker and faster than I’ve ever been, so that gives me a lot of confidence”.
Advertisement
“Paralympians are resilient people, and the staff teams that back them up, and our Paralympic family, will pull together”, he vowed.
