The Paralympics was rocked by news that Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad died following a crash in a road race in Rio.
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It said he received emergency treatment on the course and was transported to a Rio hospital where officials said he died.
Golbarnezhad’s death marks the first Paralympics or summer Olympics fatality since the 1960 games.
Watching the Paralympic marathon along the seafront in Copacabana, spectator Marcelo Augusto Miranda Costa said the Games had been “a moment of magic for the city”.
The crash happened on a downhill section and a right-hand bend on Avenida Estado da Guanabara on the hilly Grumari circuit, a spokesman for the Rio 2016 organising committee said.
“The Paralympic family is united in grief at this horrendous tragedy which casts a shadow over what has been a great Paralympic Games here in Rio”.
The Iranian flag has been lowered to half-mast in the athletes’ village and Mr Golbarnezhad’s family, who are in Iran, were informed this afternoon, according to the IPC.
This post was syndicated from INFORMATION NIGERIA.
There were also global tensions over a ban imposed by the worldwide Paralympic Committee on the entire Russian team because of alleged state doping.
“The ambulance then diverted to the nearby Unimed Rio Hospital in Barra where he passed away soon after arrival”, according to a statement from the International Paralympic Committee. He was competing in the C4-5 races for athletes with lower limb impairments or amputations.
He was Bahman Golbarnezhad, aged 48, the International Paralympics Committee said.
Organizers said that the show in the famous football stadium will feature the best of Brazil’s rich music and dance culture in a celebration of what many say have been a surprisingly successful Rio Games.
Organisers say Sunday’s closing ceremony will be “a new opportunity to celebrate Rio de Janeiro and Brazil”, the Paralympic flame will be extinguished and the flag handed over to Tokyo, hosts for the next Games in 2020.
Iran NPC secretary general Ashrafi added: “Bahman was one of the most hard-working active athletes that we’ve had”.
Ashrafi said Golbarnezhad had been cycling for 12 years and he was the Iranian Paralympic team’s “best cyclist”.
“He was the kind of man who was a family man. He loved his family”, the BBC reports.
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Saturday’s race was won by Daniel Abraham of Holland, with Brazil’s Lauro Chaman second and Andrea Tarlao of Italy third.
