The famous Maracana stadium is packed and the Paralympians seated across the field as the proceedings kick off with fireworks.
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China finished first in the medal standings in gold medal order with 107 gold, 81 silver and 51 bronze medals, followed by Britain with 64 gold, 39 silver and 44 bronze medals.
The statistics were breathtaking nonetheless, with Britain winning 12 per cent of medals available for a best return since 1968, when Paralympic sport was in a different era.
The IPC president awarded Rio the Paralympic Order, the movement’s highest tribute.
The only time New Zealand has won more medals was the 25 secured in 1984 though there were only eight golds then.
Both athletes received a solid gold medal.
“The bottom line is that I didn’t succeed”.
“The media owes them headlines as they performed so well but with much less coverage than during the Olympics”, a netizen named Shixiaokaiya said.
Chinese athletes continued their dominance at the 2016 Paralympic Games, which draws to a close on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.
He ended the T11/12 race in ninth place in a time of 3:05.29 hours but was later disqualified as his guide runner Yosef Gezachw ran too far ahead of him.
But it was a celebration tinged with sadness, with a moment of silence held for Iranian para-cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad, who died following a crash in the men’s cycling C4-5 road race on Saturday.
Yes, Russian athletes were absent – banned by the International Paralympic Committee for state-sponsored doping – but British athletes could only face the opposition present.
An investigation into the accident has been launched.
“Every story that every Paralympian has, not just from our team but every story you hear about how people have been injured or how they acquired their disability or overcame their disability to achieve greatness on the sporting field, is pretty fantastic”, he said.
Receiving the athletes, Luka Jonathan, acting permanent secretary of the ministry of youths and sports, congratulated them for making the country proud. It was the first ever in-Games death of a Paralympian, and organizers, athletes and officials were profoundly affected.
The Paralympic flag will also be flown at half-mast in the village and at the Rio centro venue where Iran played Bosnia in the sitting volleyball final on Sunday.
Rio de Janerio, September 18: When the Rio Paralympics began; many feared it would be a fiasco but some scintillating performances and stunning feats turned it into an unforgettable triumph of determination over disability, blurring the gaps between able- bodied and differently-abled sportspersons and also how the world looks at them.
That’s a lot to ask of a world that hardly knows the Paralympics, so besotted are we with the bigger show.
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There was amazement in the 1,500m track race when Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka set a new record that was actually faster than the winning time by Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz in the same stadium a month earlier. “It’s just very tragic that in this case someone has lost their life”.
