An Iranian Paralympic cyclist died Saturday after an accident in the road race on the penultimate day of the Rio Games, officials said.
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The 2020 Summer Olympics will be held in the Japanese capital of Tokyo from August the 9th to 23rd. At the begining, many people feared that the Rio Paralympics would be a fiasco but some scintillating performances and stunning feats turned it into an unforgettable triumph of determination over disability.
The team also beat their medal haul from London four years ago, winning 27 more medals in total – although their cause was aided by the ban imposed on Russian Federation after a report found evidence of widespread doping in the country. In men’s competition, Brad Snyder, swimming, won the most US medals with three gold and a silver. Chinese paralympiand also broke 51 world records, the best for any country at the Paralympics.
Team USA finished the games with 289 athletes winning a total of 115 medals – fourth in the overall medal count.
Retiring Australian co-captain Kurt Fearnley took centre stage as his election to the International Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Council was announced.
The British Olympic Association will work alongside the government, British Paralympic Association, Manchester City Council and the Mayor of London’s Office on the details of the parade and celebration event with further information on timings to come.
China, with a vast disabled population of 83 million, has competitors in most categories, which part explains the extraordinary haul of 239 medals, 107 of them gold, from the Games’ 528 events.
GB para-swimmer Rodgers – who won gold in the S7 50m Butterfly in Rio – also became the London-based Paralympian to be the most mentioned athlete at the Games after the 33-year-old delivered a superb performance in the pool and gave a heartfelt interview afterwards. The Fourth to tenth positions were taken by the US, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil, Italy and Poland.
Irish athletes are returning home with a total of 11 medals, including golds for track stars Jason Smyth and Michael McKillop and cyclists Eoghan Clifford and the tandem of Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal.
Javelin thrower Alexander Triput won bronze.
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On that same day in the evening section Ndodomzi “Jonathan” Ntutu won silver in the T12 100m sprint, while and Buis snatched bronze in the T38 long jump.
