Dame Sarah Storey won the 14th Paralympic gold of her career with a commanding victory in the women’s C4/C5 road race in Rio on Saturday. It was.2 of a second so I didn’t know whether she had won at first. I had the belief that I could do it but you never know on the day what the conditions are going to be like. It’s just sensational. I can’t believe how much support there is.
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Success from our region came in the form Jody Cundy, who won two golds, Alfie Hewett with two silvers and Jessica-Jane Applegate who won two silvers and a bronze.
A lack of interest in tickets ahead of the Games had raised fears of failure, but after heavily discounting the prices, officials said they sold 2.1 million, less than in London four years ago but more than in Beijing in 2008.
She said: “The athletes’ village was surreal, the best way I can describe it as a little bubble”.
Team GB’s chef de mission Mark England said: “This will be a very proud moment for all Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes and rich reward for such fantastic efforts at the recent Games in Rio”.
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. The team also beat their medal haul from London four years ago, winning 27 more medals in total – although their cause was aided by the ban imposed on Russian Federation after a report found evidence of widespread doping in the country.
The Queen said in her message: “As the 2016 Paralympic Games draw to a close, I offer my warmest congratulations to the athletes of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and indeed to the athletes of all Commonwealth countries, for their many successes in Rio de Janeiro”.
The Paralympic medallists’ British Airways flight arrived into London’s Heathrow Airport on Tuesday morning (20 September) after they won 147 medals – 64 of them gold – in Brazil.
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The British Olympic Association will work alongside the government, British Paralympic Association, Manchester City Council and the Mayor of London’s Office on the details of the parade and celebration event with further information on timings to come. Maybe seeing the stars of Rio on our streets will inspire spectators to follow their own sporting dreams and become the medalists of the future.
