“The Paralympic sports in Russia will continue receiving support, attention and care on behalf of the authorities”, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said at an official opening ceremony of the alternative games organized by the Russian authorities outside Moscow.
Advertisement
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – The Paralympic Games already has its first political protest, right at the beginning with the opening ceremony.
Russia’s National Paralympic Committee subsequently appealed the decision through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Incidentally, Clodoaldo Silva, the man who lit the Paralympic cauldron during the opening ceremony, is Dias’ hero.
Just as Indiasent their largest-ever contingent to the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Paralympics Games will also feature 19 athletes from the nation, the highest sent for the event till date. Reuters The Maracana Stadium was packed for the opening ceremony.
This left athletes facing the prospect of performing in under-filled stadiums while many poverty-stricken families in the area could not afford tickets.
Wiggs has had to make certain sacrifices to guarantee her place in Rio – none bigger than giving up work to train full time – but the former teacher said it has all been worth it.
Canada has 162 athletes competing in 19 sports in Rio, and is gunning for a top-16 finish in the overall medals standings.
The record of 41 career gold medals won by blind American swimmer Trischa Zorn between 1980 and 2004 looks unbeatable, but the Paralympics will inevitably produce new stars.
“Show the world that there is no them, there is only us”, Craven told the capacity crowd at the opener.
“We are all part of one world”.
The run-up to the Games was also overshadowed by slow ticket sales.
“We check all teams before they go out into the stadium at every single Games, so that flag was pretty well hidden on that person last night because all of Belarus team was searched before they went out and the flag was somewhere on the person that we didn’t notice”.
Patrick Hickey, a high-ranking International Olympic Committee member from Ireland, was among 10 people charged by Brazilian prosecutors on Tuesday with ticket scalping, conspiracy and ambush marketing related to last month’s Olympics.
Advertisement
Temer’s hurried declaration of “I declare the Games open” met a roar of boos, while booing forced Brazilian Olympics boss Carlos Nuzman to pause his speech after he mentioned “thanks to the federal, state and municipal governments”.
