With the 2016 Rio Olympics done and dusted, all eyes are now on our Australian athletes competing at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and it is now their time to shine.
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Former football star Ronaldinho, an ambassador to the Games, has produced a song entitled “En sou do mundo, um vencedor” (I’m part of this world, a winner) as a tribute to athletes with disabilities, which is turning into an internet hit. The ceremony will take place on September 7 at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. In 1994, she was adopted by Debbie McFadden, who was working for the USA’s health department, moved to the States and took up Paralympic Sport. There have even been campaigns created to promote an initiative to fill the seats at Rio, led by an Olympics executive, two Paralympians and Coldplay.
All horses and riders have arrived in Brazil, with the equestrian competition starting on 11 September and running until 18 September.
With the Paralympic budget way below what was originally promised, the International Paralympic Committee announced the Games would go ahead but with major cuts.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) classifies the para-athletes in various categories, known as sport classes, based on their impairment.
“Many countries who did not invest in the past in the Paralympic movement are now putting a lot of energy, coaching and time into making sure they have a good Paralympic team”. If she wins a medal at Rio she will become the first Australian athlete to medal at both the Summer and Winter Games. “Please spare them some space”, Nio, who will hold a press conference in Delhi tomorrow, before heading to Rio said.
Beyond our baseline of interest in all elite athletes, we saw an unusual opportunity in the Paralympics. A four-time gold medallist at the Paralympics, Smyth set a record time of 10.46 seconds at London 2012, and will be sprinting in Rio.
Di Toro represented Australia in wheelchair tennis at the Paralympics between 1996 and 2012, winning silver at the 2000 Games and bronze in 2004.
The Paralympics get under way in the party capital of the world on Wednesday and this could be Malaysia’s best chance to lay claim to their first-ever gold medal – or more.
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Parsons did not reveal a specific medals target for Brazil but said the hosts aimed to finish among the top five in the standings. The national contingent returned to Paralympics in 1984 at the Seoul Games, in South Korea and won the nation’s first medal, a bronze, through P. Mariappan in powerlifting.
