At the quadrennial event for athletes with disabilities, which came to an end in Brazil on Sunday (local time), South Korean Paralympians won a total of 35 medals – seven gold, 11 silver and 17 bronze.
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Another gold medal in swimming went to Vladimir Izotov, who exceeded his London Paralympics result in the 100 m breaststroke, setting a new Paralympic record.
One of the highlights at the ceremony was Jonathan Bastos, a Brazilian who was born without arms yet is an accomplished musician, playing instruments with his feet.
Philip Craven, was among those to pay tribute to Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad during the Paralympic Games closing ceremony here.
Rio’s Paralympic Games have officially ended in Rio de Janeiro with a mix of fireworks and samba.
Brazil’s top official for the Rio Olympics and Paralympics, Carlos Nuzman, called it “very sad news for sport and for the Paralympic movement”.
The generally positive ending was quite the turnaround from a few weeks ago when the Rio organisers’ woeful finances in the wake of the August Olympics and a stunning lack of interest in tickets raised fears of failure.
Leslie won the event in London and Beijing, in 2012 and 2008, and he won at a canter in Rio with a time of 2 minutes and 23.12 seconds.
The closing ceremony of the 2016 Paralympic Games was a celebration tinged with sadness following the death of Bahman Golbarnezhad.
China stood first in the medal table followed by Great Britain in second place and Ukraine in third.
The crashes in the Olympic men’s and women’s races, including Annemiek van Vleuten’s terrible wreck, took place on the Vista Chinesa descent, which was not used in the Paralympic course.
Once more, it was China that dominated overall, with nearly 100 medals more than its nearest rival, Britain, which held a comfortable second place.
Retiring Australian co-captain Kurt Fearnley took centre stage as his election to the International Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Council was announced.
Brazil stood 8th in Rio Paralympics with 72 medals-14 gold, 29 silver, and 29 bronze.
The Ministry promised the athletes that there would be a proper reception for the them the remaining contingent return to the country.
Later, unlike at the opening ceremony, a parade of one athlete from each of the 160 participating countries in the Rio Paralympics, brought their national flags out.
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Britain’s Olympic athletes won 27 golds from 15 sports, and 67 medals in total, smashing UK Sport’s pre-Games target of at least 48 medals, meaning Rio was the nation’s most successful “away” Games.
