Australian team co-captain Kurt Fearnley ended his Paralympic career and Australia’s Rio Games on Sunday (Monday AEST), with the wheelchair racing veteran finishing second in the men’s marathon.
Advertisement
The Paralympian was cycling on a mountainous stretch of the road race at the time of the crash, according to a statement from the International Paralympic Committee.
Represented by 24 athletes in six sports including in judo, athletics, powerlifting, swimming, shooting and archery, Azerbaijan claimed 11 medals in the Rio, thus ranking 33rd in the medal table with one gold, eight silver and two bronze.
The last time Australia dropped out of the top five was in Barcelona in 1992, but the reduced number of golds was, in part, due to the absence of record-breaking swimmers Matthew Cowdrey and Jacqueline Freney.
Powerhouse China won the most gold medals by a mile, while Britain beat Ukraine into second on the medal table.
Ekweremadu, who stated this in his congratulatory message to Team Nigeria, called on other Nigerian athletes and national teams to emulate the Nigerian spirit exhibited by the Paralympians.
“The Paralympic Family is united in grief at this horrendous tragedy, which casts a shadow over what have been great Paralympic Games here in Rio”.
This is Sixteen years after she became the first black woman to win a Paralympic gold medal for South Africa.
Rio de Janeiro, Sep 19 (IANS) The president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Philip Craven, was among those to pay tribute to Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad during the Paralympic Games closing ceremony here.
An outstanding performance from the Australian team saw them finish fifth after the final medal tally, having collected 81 medals including 22 gold.
ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission Penny Briscoe said: “The ParalympicsGB team have delivered an awesome, awe-inspiring performance in Rio at this Paralympic Games”.
Craven also added that; “Rio 2016 will be remembered as a successful Paralympic Games and a Games that surprised many”.
“Mission accomplished”, said Carlos Nuzman, president of the Rio organizing committee.
In his blog post, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the athletes should keep working hard as the government would do everything they can to help.
Advertisement
“We look forward to welcoming people from all over the country for a spectacular celebration of the achievements of our Olympic and Paralympic heroes and to share in an unforgettable day”.
