“How can Rio de Janeiro be compared with the Moscow Games?”
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This year’s games brought 159 nations together with more than 4,300 athletes competing, including two refugee athletes from Syria and Iran.
The extraordinary sight of US Paralympian Aaron Wheelz jumping in his wheelchair from a 17-metre ramp got the crowd on its feet.
International Paralympic Committee president Sir Philip Craven journeyed from the Paralympic movement’s birthplace of Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire in an introductory video.
British T37 200m sprinter Bethany Woodward, who has cerebral palsy and will not be competing in Rio, has criticised the British Paralympic Association (BPA).
In addition, Mr Temer and his government are tasked with overseeing a recovery of Brazil’s economy, which is blighted by its worst recession in 80 years. The country just removed its elected president, and these Games needed a government bailout of nearly US$80 million (S$107.7 million) to make it to the starting line.
The 2016 Summer Paralympics, which marks the 15th edition of the global sport showpiece for athletes with disabilities, officially commenced in Rio de Janeiro yesterday and will run until the September 18 – making it the first Summer Paralympic Games to be held in the host city’s wintertime.
The first Paralympic Games in South America began with a spectacular four-hour opening ceremony before more than 50,000 spectators at a rain-soaked Maracana stadium.
The ceremony ended with an emotional passing of the Paralympic torch, during which 1984 Paralympian Marcia Malsar fell to floor, but was met by a deafening roar from the crowd as she stood up and completed her leg.
A notable absentee was International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach.
Bach is due at a mourning ceremony in Berlin for the late West German president Walter Scheel.
The competition will last until September 10.
With its stance in the wake of revelations of state-sponsored doping in Russian Federation, the International Paralympic Committee and its president Sir Philip Craven showed the leadership and stance the International Olympic Committee did not.
Perhaps stemming from frustration with the political turmoil now gripping the country, boos and hisses rang down from the mostly hometown crowd at any mention of their nation’s government, with the loudest boos reserved for interim-President Michel Temer, who appeared next to officially open the Games. Police had planned to “summon” Bach if he came for the opening ceremony, though there is no evidence he knew about the ticket scam. Nuzman and Craven when they thanked the Brazil government.
The events were the first official gatherings that Temer had attended since becoming the country’s president on August 31 after Dilma Rousseff was impeached and removed from office amid a declining economy and a bribery scandal. Oh, the irony. Fortunately, sports fans in India and in all countries where the Paralympics are not being shown on TV can watch the games online at www.paralympic.org and www.olympicchannel.com. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
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