“We have been impressed by our experience across both the Olympic and Paralympic Games and inspired by the passion of the Carioca”, said Toshiro Muto, CEO of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, referring to Rio residents by their nickname.
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As Craven declared the Games over – with Tokyo now taking up the baton for 2020 – he said Brazil had passed a hard test.
Bahman Golbarnezhad, a 48-year-old Iranian cyclist, died after crashing during a race in Rio de Janiero on Saturday.
Canada finished the Paralympics with 29 medals – eight gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze.
It took double overtime before the men’s team defended its 2012 title from London, with a thrilling 59-58 win against the United States of America.
Masoud Ashrafi, the secretary general of Iran’s National Paralympic Committee, told the Press Association: “There is one bitterness and one sweetness”. The IPC cited Russia’s alleged failure to comply with the the organization’s anti-doping rules as the reason behind its decision.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes handed the Paralympic flag to International Paralympic Committee president Sir Philip Craven, who then handed it to Tokyo governor, Yuriko Koike.
Brazilian music stars including Gaby Amarantos, Nacao Zumbi and queen of the carnival Ivete Sangalo brought the party as the host nation said goodbye to eleven record-breaking days of Paralympic sport.
Hundreds of Nigerians trooped to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja on Sunday to welcome the first batch of victorious 2016 Paralympics athletes from Rio in Brazil.
New Zealand-born war veteran Curtis McGrath carried the flag for a contingent of Aussies dressed in striped shirts that made them look suspiciously like convicts.
Pezaro, who reached the final in all five of her individual events in Rio, won three medals in each of the previous two Paralympics, taking three bronzes in 2012 and three silvers four years earlier, while also claiming a silver and a bronze in Athens 2004.
China’s Zheng Jin smashed her own world record to win gold in the 1,500 metres T11final.
T13 1500m – the top four finishers of the visually impaired 1500m, won by Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka, were quicker than American Matt Centrowitz when he won Olympic gold a few weeks earlier.
Dame Sarah Storey won her third and GB’s 60th gold medal of the Games on Saturday, with the tally reaching 64 golds by the end of the day.
Britain now have 147 medals – 27 more medals overall than at London 2012 and 31 more gold medals – with David Weir still to race in the men’s T54 marathon from 16:30 BST.
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