The 2016 Rio Paralympic Games ended Sunday, and Team USA walked away with 115 medals.
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Laois swimmer Nicole Turner carried the Irish flag into the stadium.
The total medal haul increased by eight from the 2012 London Games, but it was the first time that Japan has failed to win a gold medal since it first joined the Paralympics in the 1964 Tokyo Games.
Paralympics GB finished second in the medal table behind China, winning 64 gold medals and 147 in total over 11 days of competition.
Weightlifter Amal Mahmoud, who won a bronze medal in the women’s under-67 kg category, criticized all TV channels fiercely for ignoring the event, in contrast to the Olympic Games, which recieved huge coverage.
At 10.35am local time, Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad lost control of his bike on a bend of the Grumari circuit.
An Iranian cyclist died after crashing in a road race at the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics on Saturday, Sept. 17.
Paralympic officials said Golbarnezhad’s family in Iran had been informed and the Iranian team was also told the news during a meeting at the Athletes’ Village.
Rating the event second only to London, Storey said: “I think they nearly preferred the Paralympics in many ways”.
The ceremonial Paralympic flag was handed to the governor of Tokyo, which will host the next Olympics and Paralympics in 2020, by International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven.
“We believe that the performances of our athletes help to inspire a better world for disabled people”.
He won gold in the men’s KL2 canoe sprint in Rio and said he was proud of his achievements.
The 72 medals won by Brazil in Rio Paralympics improved the country’s position in Paralympics overall medal tables, going from 26th to 23rd place.
Sprint stars Michelle Stilwell and Brent Lakatos both won multiple medals in wheelchair racing.
Chef de mission Penny Briscoe said the team delivered “an fantastic, awe-inspiring performance”, from “the most competitive team at the most competitive Games”.
The most-decorated British Paralympian in British history with 14 gold medals, Dame Sarah Storey, told Sky News the reception at Heathrow had been fantastic: “It’s been unbelievable”.
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Final details are now being worked out – there will also be an event in London on the following day.
