Laois swimmer Nicole Turner carried the Irish flag into the stadium.
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He joins some of the greats of the Games including Australia’s most decorated Paralympian, Matt Cowdrey (2004 and 2008), retiring sprinter Evan O’Hanlon (2012), six-time athletics champion Neil Fuller (2000) and nine-time swimming gold medallist Priya Cooper (1992 and 1996) as closing ceremony flag bearers.
Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad, who died on September 17 during a cycling race in Rio de Janeiro.
Paying tribute to Golbarnezhad, president of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee Carlos Nuzman, said: “I want to send a message to the athletes of Iran, our prayers are with you”.
China achieved its aim set before the Rio Paralympics to finish at the top of the medal standings, just as they did at the previous three Games in Athens, Beijing and London.
The 2020 Paralympic Games are scheduled to take place in Tokyo between August 25-Sept. 6. The London Paralympics in 2012 saw the highest sales at.
“We are celebrating you now because you have done this country proud”.
The State Council has given its approval for the 10th National Games of Disabled Persons to be held right after the 13th National Games in Tianjin next year, marking the first time the two games will be held consecutively at one place, to highlight equality in sports participation.
Craven warned earlier Sunday that “major change” will be needed from Russian Federation to be allowed back into Paralympic competition.
Rio 2016, the local organizing committee, said it has sold more than 2.1 million tickets for the Paralympics, which end Sunday, out of a total 2.5 million available.
“It doesn’t matter what I say about my future because at the last Paralympics I said that those would be my last games and here I am in Rio”, she explained The final Israeli to compete in Rio on Sunday was marathon runner Gadi Yarkoni. Part of that success, however, was due to many tickets being sold for as little as $3 – or given away to school children in an worldwide fill-the-seats campaign.
There was amazement in the 1,500 meter track race when Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka set a new record that was actually faster than the winning time by Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz in the same stadium a month earlier.
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It overshadowed a Paralympics that dealt with a funding and doping crisis to be a success, saving the Games experience for the Brazilian public after the scandal-marred Olympics. Britain came second with a medal haul of 147 including 64 gold, 39 silver and 44 bronze and Ukraine came third with a medal haul of 117 including 41 gold, 37 silver and 39 bronze.
