“You know, with 2.1 million tickets sold, the second-highest ticket sales ever at a Paralympics Games, the quite incredible athletic performances in all of the sports, that has come together and has created a brilliant Games for the spectators, for the television, for the social media”.
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Athletes who competed for the country at the Paralympics returned home from Rio de Janeiro yesterday having finished second on the medal table with a haul of 147, 64 of which were gold. He had won a number of competitions previously as a powerlifter, but made the switch to cycling and raced in the 2012 London Paralympics on the road and track.
IPC president Sir Philip Craven said the channel had “set an worldwide benchmark” for Paralympics coverage.
Overall, organisers are heaving a sigh of relief that predictions of failure for South America’s first Olympics and paralympics were proved wrong.
“The athlete received treatment at the scene and was in the process of being taken to the athlete hospital when he suffered a cardiac arrest”, the IPC said in a statement.
As Rio said farewell to the 2016 Paralympics with a closing ceremony showcasing Brazil’s passion for music, a leading Thai official voiced concern that the Kingdom’s historic feat in the 15th edition may never be repeated again.
In the men’s event, Switzerland’s Marcel Hug jostled neck and neck with Australia’s Kert Fearnley before putting in an extraordinary burst of energy to soar over the finish line a few meters ahead.
Iran’s participation at the Rio Paralympic Games ended with an eighth gold medal won in sitting volleyball, and it was dedicated to the cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad, who died following a crash 24 hours earlier.
The 2020 Paralympic Games are scheduled to take place in Tokyo between August 25-Sept. 6.
“The magnificent performance of ParalympicsGB this year reflects the talent and commitment of the athletes and their support teams”.
Over the course of the Games, the cycling team had its best Paralympics ever, with nine medals. Brazil now has 87 gold medals in the history of Paralympic Games – enough to be the 23rd winningest country in the world. I think my work with them will go on and benefit more paralympians, ‘ Yu said.
“It’s been very evident here at the Games that the big nations are just pumping so much resource into their programmes that when you look at the medal table there’s a huge divergence between the top five or six and the rest”.
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Fourth-placed Jin Zheng, who competes in the T11 category – for the most severe sight impairments – set a world record for her class, finishing in 3:19.46.
