Rio will likely be the last time Britain will have the luxury of calling on the leadership and medal-winning experience of David Weir, Stephen Miller and Richard Whitehead for a Paralympics, with the trio – 10 Paralympic golds between them – set to move away from the sport before the 2020 Games in Tokyo. He rounded out his initial Paralympic Games by placing fourth in the 100 fly, fifth in the 100 back, sixth in the 100 breast and sixth in the 200 individual medley. We did well in Doha [39 medals] and we’ve got more athletes competing in more events so hopefully we’ll go and do ourselves proud.
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Britain’s flag will be carried at the opening ceremony by Paralympic dressage champion Lee Pearson, who has won 10 gold medals since making his debut at Sydney 2000.
REDDITCH-born swimmer Claire Cashmore was in relaxed mood as she headed out to Rio to compete in the 2016 Paralympic Games.
“I hope that people take from me that there is always something after any kind of diagnosis”. Amy Purdy, who won a bronze in the Sochi Paralympic Games, will perform a dance routine with an as yet unnamed partner. The International Paralympic Committee has raised objections over the kits and blazers provided to the Indian contingent and that may threaten contingent’s participation in opening ceremony.
Mr Laver wanted to give disadvantaged children in Rio the chance to watch Paralympic athletes compete, just as he had when he was 18.
528 – medal events in 22 sports.
Team GB enjoyed a record medal haul at the Rio Olympics, including 27 golds among 67 podium finishes, and will be hoping to replicate some of that success over the next couple of weeks.
The IPC banned all Russian athletes from the Rio Paralympics over allegations of state-run doping made by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren in his report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).
Multi-talented Cox will represent ParalympicsGB as a C4 athlete on velodrome and road and as a T37 sprinter on the athletics track.
“We are neither, we are people out there that are hoping to be the absolute best in the world. Such was the plight”, she said pointing out the media’s comprehensive coverage of PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik in Rio about a fortnight ago.
The closing ceremony will happen on the final day of competition.
“There is a lot of accessibility being improved around the city”, he said.
Pearson, 42, said: “This is a massive honour”.
“I want them to know that they, too, can overcome obstacles in life”, he says.
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“I am quite a cheeky character and I never thought my fellow athletes would vote for me”. Melissa Tapper (table tennis) is Australia’s first dual Olympian/Paralympian after fulfilling her dream of reaching Olympic level last month.
