The figure includes two refugees, who will participate under the International Paralympic Athletes flag, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said on Wednesday.
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The 2016 Paralympics have kicked off in all its glory, and 4,300 athletes with various disabilities representing 160 teams will be seen in the multi-sport event. Having a passion for sports as a child, he was excited to learn about a team sport in which he could compete without special accommodations. In comparison, a record 2.7 million tickets were sold during the London Paralympics.
British Paralympic Association chief executive Tim Hollingsworth has had his own challenging task this week in defending his team against recent claims made by London T37 200 metres silver medallist Bethany Woodward, and backed by the father of her former sprint relay colleague Olivia Breen, that the classification system for disabled athletes is being manipulated to boost medal chances.
Caught in political and economic crises, Rio 2016 organisers have skimped as far as they can on food, transport and accommodation.
The 41 career gold medals won by blind American swimmer Trischa Zorn between 1980 and 2004 looks unbeatable, but the Paralympics will inevitably produce new tales of courage.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that Russia would organize alternative competitive events on September 8-9, for the barred Russian Paralympic team and the awards for the Paralympians would be equal to those promised at the 2016 Rio Games.
Russian Federation came second four years ago, with 36 gold medals, but will not be in Rio due to their ban.
His compatriot Liu last year inflicted the first defeat on reigning T11 400m champion Terezinha Guilhermina of Brazil in nine years.
Italy’s Alex Zanardi had both his legs amputated after a horrific CART crash in Germany 15 years ago and is now aiming to defend his road race and time trial titles in hand cycling’s H4 class.
This gives Great Britain, third in 2012 with 34 gold medals, a great chance of moving up a place.
Disability rights activist Suchandra Ganguly said, “Paralympics have never been telecast”. Once the jigsaw was completed, all the faces of the competing athletes came together to form the shape of a human heart, which began to beat in sync with the music.
It would be unwise to pretend all is now well, as a mention of government from Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of the Rio Organizing Committee, drew loud and extended boos from the Maracana crowd, forcing him to stop mid-speach for several minutes.
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“The Games will happen, but they may not be – I wouldn’t say tip-top, but maybe not as relatively luxurious as in the past”, he declared.
