Paralympics Closing Ceremony

The ceremony begins with horn blowers signalling the entry of the wind and the dreamers awaking to protect the Agitos (the Paralympic symbol).

The next segment honours servicemen and women and Captain Luke Sinnott hangs the Union Flag followed by the Earl of Wessex and Sir Phillip Craven being driven around the track in a custom-built car.

Lissa Hermans sings the National Anthem and then Rory Mackenzie delivers the opening speech.

The flag bearers then enter the stadium with their respective colours, David Weir and Sarah Storey carry the flag for ParalympicsGB.

The flag bearers formed a heart shape which lights up the stadium and burns into the ground.

Then the festival begins with a procession of flamethrowers carving the ground and a parade of metal dinosaurs and various animal based vehicles entering the stadium.

Two athletes are then awarded for "fair, honest and uncompromising values" which are Michael McKillop and Mary Zakayo.

Tribute is then given to the a selection of the 'Games Makers' by six athletes and Coldplay begin their set on stage with the song 'Us Against the World'.

This is followed by 'Yellow' and a great performance of 'Paradise as 19 fireflies entered from the air.

A group of dancers set free a fellow dancer from a cage of ice while Coldplay sing, the dancer is playing the Snow Queen and is Viktoria Modesta.

Snow confetti comes down from the roof of the stadium as Coldplay continue with aerialists Laszlo Simet and Lyndsay Adams performing.

Lindsay goes on to ignite a ball of energy and leads the festival on to Spring.

Another Coldplay hit rings around the stadium  as 120 enter carrying  parts of a fish symbolised by 600 hub caps.

Coldplay's first special guest enters the stadium - Rhianna and she joins them in singing and then the British Paraorchestra plays to the crowds accompanied by Chris Martin.

Rhianna sings 'We Found Love' while swinging across the centre of the stadium followed by  'Viva la Vida' by Coldplay.

Summer fades away and the Paralympic flag is lowered and the Paralympic Anthem is played by the British Paraorchestra.

The flag is then passed from Boris Johnson through IPC President Phillip Craven and onto Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes.

The Brazilian National Anthem is then played and the Brazilian flag is raised. 2016 will be the first ever Paralympics to take place in South America.

Rio begin their segment of the ceremony and just like in the Olympic equivalent there is a main focus on dance.

As the segment ends the sky is filled with fireworks to light up the stadium.

Lord Coe and Sir Craven enter the stage and give speeches. Lord Coe says ' We have shared some wonderful days.... incredible people have performed feats we never thought possible.' He then tells two stories, the first about a medical games maker who was on his way to the boxing event.

The Games maker (Andy) says he was on duty on 7/7 and said he wasn't sure he could face the event but had seen the worst of mankind and now the best of mankind.'

The second was about Emily another games maker who took part in wheelchair basketball who said' It raised the cloud of limitation'

Lord Coe then thanked the volunteers and said disability would be never be thought of in the same way and quoted ' the cloud of limitation.'

London 2012 - made in Britain his last words caused rapturous applause as Sir Phillip began his speech.

He remarked that these games had been 'the most incredible games and that LOCOG has inspired a generation and the country has enjoyed a feel good factor like never before.'

He went on to thank the thousands of games makers and the British armed and emergency services which caused a massive cheer from  the crowd.

He closed with the words, 'I declare the London 2012 Paralympic games closed but they will live on for an eternity and I call on all nations to meet in Rio in four years to display your sporting excellence' and thanked the entire UK population.


Jonnie Peacock and Ellie Simmonds extinguish the Paralympic flame and the Festival of Flame resumes.

Rhianna reappears joined by Jay-Z singing 'Run This Town', Jay-Z then sings an adapted version of 'Paradise before being accompanied by Coldplay who then thank the athletes and sing 'The Scientist'.

While they are playing a montage of the events of the past 11 days is shown with many success and accolades featured.

Chris Martin asks the crowd to celebrate by thanking all the athletes and volunteers and says goodbye to London with the final song 'Every Teardrop is a Waterfall' which is accompanied by flowing water fountains and a mix of dancers.

The stadium lights up and a barrage of fireworks set off and light up the evening sky to create a very artistic masterpiece. The firework display ends with a sign saying ' Thank You London, Thank You UK.'

What a great four weeks it has been both in the Olympics and Paralympics!



(This blog will stay up for you to come back to reflect on the events of the greatest ever games.)

Paralympics Final Day

The final day of competing saw some success for GB in the marathon with David Weir securing gold in the T54 to secure his fourth gold of the games while Shelly Woods sealed silver in the female equivalent.

They proved to be the last medals for ParalympicsGB and meant they finished third behind Russia and runway winners China as you can see in the final medal table below.

Paralympics Day 10

Paralympics 2012 entered the penultimate day with medal hopes still alive in a good number of events.

Athletically, Hazel Robson finished 7th in the T36 100m and Nathan Stephens missed out on the javelin final so no GB success there today. On a side note, Oscar Pistorius secured the T43/44 400m by 3.5 seconds (a new Paralympic record) ahead of a USA 2-3 with bronze medallist David Prince who set a new WR in the T44 classification with the front two both T43's.

Stephen McGuire misses out on bronze in Boccia while David Smith takes silver after a 7-0 defeat in the final to Pattaya Tadtong.

 Cycling success came from David Stone who captured gold in the T1-2 road race to add to his time trial bronze.

Ellie Simmonds scored a silver in the pool beaten to gold by American rival Victoria Arlen but 2 golds, a silver and a bronze means she has had a spectacular games. Harriet Lee takes bronze in the SB9 100m breaststroke, very brave too after being in intensive care only four months ago.

Jack Bridge set a new British record to seal a final place in the male equivalent of the SB9 but finished fourth in the final.

With one day left, GB sit third to Russia and China with their target of medals complete their other target was to claim second overall so something big needed tomorrow.

Paralympics day 9

After Thriller Thursday saw a wave of success, Day 9 became known as Frustrating Friday with mixed results.
In Athletics,  Josie Pearson breaks the WR by winning the F51/52/53 discus but no further medals as Richard Whitehead finished 7th in the T42 100m, Kyron Duke finishes 8th in the F40 javelin, Mickey Bushell finished 4th in the T53 200m, Shelly Woods finished 6th in the T54 1500m.

Boccia saw David Smith guarantee silver by winning the BC1 semi 5-2 against Norway's Roger Aandalen.

Rachel Morris sealed bronze in cycling in the individual H 1-3 road race but as she and team mate Karen Darke crossed hand in hand over the line together but rules don't stretch to giving both a medal but thankfully both have a medal with Karen Darke earning one earlier in the games.

A mere 0.03 seconds stopped the GB relay team from taking gold in the 4x100m medley relay and meant they had to settle for silver but the team of Heather Frederiksen, Claire Cashmore, Steph Millward and Louise Watkin were very proud to take second.

Elsewhere in the pool, Louise Watkin reaches the S9 100m freestyle final with Lauren Steadman joining her as a fastest loser. Later on Watkin finishes 5th with Steadman in last.

Will Bayley, Ross Wilson and Aaron McKibbin took bronze after winning their team table tennis play-off against Germany 3-0 and the women’s pair of Sara Head and Jane Campbell battled back from two matches down to beat Italy 3-2 and secure Class 1-3 bronze.

Success in the wheelchair tennis as the doubles pair of Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker take bronze who sealed the medal with an ace for a 6-7 7-6 6-3 win over their Thai opponents

 GB stay second and hopefully will improve in the final two days.

Paralympics Day 8

Day 8 was Thriller Thursday and the thrills lit up an amazing day of success for Paralympics GB.

Athletics caused the most thrills with Jonnie Peacock (current WR holder) clinching gold in the T44 100m with Oscar Pistorius only managing fourth and David Weir sealing his third gold of the games in the 800m.

Ola Abidogun sealed bronze on his Paralympic debut in the T46 100m and a new Paralympic record for Hannah Cockroft in the T34 200m while Paul Blake netted bronze in the T36 800m.

Ben Rushgrove took bronze in the T36 200m with team mate Graeme Ballard in fourth while Bev Jones wins bronze in the F37 Discus.

Golden girl Sarah Storey wins gold in the C4-5 road race to equal Tanni Grey-Thompson's record of 11 Paralympic golds. Paralympics GB won their first ever medals in sailing as Helena Lucas sealed gold in the 2.4MR one-person keelboat and SKUD 18 team Niki Birrell and Alexandra Rickham sailed to bronze.

Swimming yet again was the home of medal success beginning with Heather Fredriksen storming to gold in the S8 100m freestyle and it became the 103rd medal of the games for GB meaning their total from Beijing 2008 had been eclipsed.

Susie Rodgers broke the European record to seal bronze in the 400m freestyle S7 with a time of 5:18.93. Gold for 15-year old Josef Craig as he smashes the WR to win the S7 400m freestyle in a time of 4:42.81 with former WR holder Jonathan Fox back in fourth.

Silver and bronze for Stephanie Millward and Louise Watkin in the SM9 200m IM with Claire Cashmore in fourth.


GB move to joint second with Russia with GB placed ahead by way of more silver medals but both still behind China.

Paralympics Day 7

Day 7 saw more success but with several Paralympians adding to their earlier successes.

In Archery, In the men's team recurve, ParalympicsGB beat Taipei 195-179 in the quarter-finals.

Over in the Athletics, David Weir strolls through the T54 800m heats but a mixed result in the Women's 200m T37 heats as world champion Katrina Hart bows out in fifth while Bethany Woodward and Jenny McLoughlin both reach the final with Bethany Woodward going on to claim silver and McLoughlin in fifth. Stef Reid and Sophie Kamlish qualify for the T44 200m finals as a fastest loser and third respectively and David Devine seals bronze in the T12 800m to add to the 1500m bronze he won earlier in the games.

Cycling took to the roads and Sarah Storey brought her Velodrome luck along as she bagged her third gold of the games  with victory in the C5 individual time trial but in the male equivalent Jon-Allan Butterworth finishes 13th after an injury. Mark Colbourne seals silver in the C1 individual time trial and Karen Darke also claims silver in the handcycling H1-2 time trial and special notice to former F1 driver Alex Zanardi of Italy who claimed gold in Handcycling.




In Sailing, Paralympics GB ensured that they will receive at least a bronze and a silver as Helena Lucas is second in the 2.4mR class with one race to come and Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell are guaranteed bronze in the SKUD class.
Swimming success seems to be growing more each day and today saw Liz Johnson and Charlotte Henshaw qualify for the SB6 100m breaststroke final in first and second each breaking the Paralympic record but sadly they missed out on the gold but thankfully took a 2-3 with Henshaw taking silver and Johnson the bronze. Ollie Hynd stormed home to gold in the SM8 200m IM winning by two clear second with brother Sam back in fourth.

Rob Welbourn seals bronze in the S10 400m freestyle ans Louise Watkin took silver in the S9 50m.

Wheelchair Tennis pair Peter Norfolk and Andy Lapthorne take silver in the quad doubles and that medal means GB sit third in the medal table with Russia in second with three more golds but GB have 92 of the 103 medals predicted.

Paralympics Day 6

Day six of  the 2012 Paralympics and the medal total continued its rampant increase with medals across the board.

In Archery, Danielle Brown retains her gold in the individual compound with team-mate Mel Clarke sealing silver.

Over in the stadium, bronze for David Devine in the T13 1500m setting a new PB while Paul Blake won silver in the T36 400m. David Weir notched up his fourth career Paralympic gold by flying to victory in the T54 1500m and Katrina Hart, Bethy Woodward, Jenny McLoughlin and Olivia Breen sealed bronze in the T35-38 100m relay after a nervy baton-change.

In Boccia, the BC1-2 team took bronze by defeating Portugal 7-5 at the ExCeL but the BC4 mixed pairs lost out on bronze in a defeat to Canada 8-2.


Equestrian success for the two Sophie's as Sophie Wells takes the silver in grade IV freestyle and Sophie Christiansen seals a golden hat-trick by winning the grade 1A freestyle dressage while Deb Criddle wins silver in the grade III freestyle.

Shooter Matt Skelton secures bronze in the R6 50m rifle prone to add to his silver from earlier in the games. Over in the pool, success seems to be everlasting as Ollie Hynd seals bronze in the S8 100m backstroke while Ellie Simmonds takes bronze in the S6 50m freestyle in what she says is her weakest event. Heather Frederiksen seals 100m S8 backstroke gold while Stephanie Millward takes silver in the S9 400m freestyle and Matt Walker takes bronze in the 50m S7 freestyle.

GB still hold second in the medal table but some distance behind China.

Paralympics Day 5

 Day five and more success for ParalympicsGB with gold for Mickey Bushell with an amazing ride in the T53 100m with a new Paralympic record of 14.75 seconds.

David Weir took third in the T54 1500m heats to reach tomorrow's final while David Devine strolled to victory in the heats of the T12 800m.

Gold for Natasha Baker in the grade II individual freestyle to secure her second gold of the games while gold medal favourite Lee Pearson had to settle for bronze in the individual freestyle dressage.


Over in the pool, golden girl Ellie Simmons broke the WR early in the day in the SM6 200m individual medley heat with a time of 3:06.97 and smashed it later on in the final to power away from the rest of the field in a time of 3:05.39 to secure her second gold of the games with fellow Brit Natalie Jones taking the bronze missing out on a GB 1-2 by 1/100th of a second.

Sascha Kindred won silver in the Men's equivalent and Susie Rodgers sealed bronze in the Women's 100m S7 freestyle while GB won silver in the Women's 4x100m relay.

Paul Davies secured bronze in the Table Tennis and in Wheelchair Basketball, the women's team qualified for the quarter finals to face Germany and the men also reach the quarters.

GB stay second in the medal table with China surely impossible to catch with 112 medals to GB'S 63.

Paralympics Day 4

Day four saw more medal success for ParalympicsGB but also the foundations to success for many athletes.

In Archery, Danielle Brown reaches the semi finals and is joined by Mel Clarke who celebrated her 30th birthday to the chorus of 'Happy Birthday' from the crowd.

A medal haul in the Athletics which began with Stef Reid taking silver in the F42/44 long jump, but sadly Shelly Woods finishes 8th in the T54 5000m final.

Gold for Aled Davies with a new PB  of 46.14 in the F42 discus while Libby Clegg guided by Mikhail Huggins sealed silver in the Women's T12 100m. Silver for Graeme Ballard in the Men's T36 100m and a atmospheric roar from the crowd greeted David Weir home to gold in the T54 5000m at around 10.20pm

 In the Velodrome, Anthony Kappes (piloted by Craig Maclean) take gold ahead of Neil Fachie (piloted by Barney Storey) who take silver in the all-British individual B sprint final while the trio of Darren Kenny, Jon-Allen Butterworth and Rik Waddon take silver in the C1-C5 mixed sprint behind China who broke the WR but only won by a margin of 0.065s and Aileen McGlynn (piloted by Helen Scott) took bronze in the individual B sprint.

After yesterdays success in the Equestrian, the medal haul increased here again with gold for Sophie Christiansen in the dressage while Sophie Wells seals silver in the grade IV equestrian and also a silver for Deb Criddle in the Grade III.

Over at Eton Dorney, gold for the mixed coxed four of Pam Relph, Naomi Riches, David Smith and James Roe while in the pool, Jessica-Jane Applegate causes a surprise and takes gold in the Women's S14 200m. James Clegg took bronze in the Men's 100m S12 butterfly while Hannah Russell added bronze in the female equivalent to the silver she won earlier in the week.


In the Table Tennis, Will Bayley won silver after a defeat to Jochen Wollmert (Ger) in the class 7 singles final by 3-1.

GB now sit second in the medal table between China and Australia on 54 medals.

Paralympics Day 3

ParalympicsGB's medal haul increased massively today on what was dubbed 'Superhuman Saturday' with success across many sports.


In Archery, the only success came via Sharon Vennard who qualified for the quarters of the Women's individual recurve standing after winning 6-2. Many of the competing GB archers bowed out in their various quarters/eliminations they were John Cavanagh, Murray Elliot, Leigh Walmsley, Kenny Allen and Paul Browne.


Over in the Olympic Stadium, Gemma Prescott sealed bronze by scoring 1015 points in the Women's club throw F31/32/51 final with team mates Josie Pearson (5th - 919) and Maxine Moore (12th -708).

Libby Clegg partnered by guide Mikail Huggins sets a new WR in her heat of the Women's 100m T12 with a time of 12.17 seconds. However the record was soon broken tweice in the next two heats meaning that the record had been improved four times in one morning.

Gold for Richard Whitehead in the Men's 200m T42 while setting a new WR of 24.38 while Hazel Robson finishes fifth in the Women's 200m T36. Bronze for Robin Womack in the Men's shot put F54/55/56 final with a new PB of 11.34m while Stef Reid and Sophie Kamlish both reached the final of the Women's 100m T44 by finishing fourth and fifth in their respective heats and Claire Williams sealed bronze in the Women's Discus F11/12 final with a throw of 39.63m.

Off to the Velodrome and yet more success to cap the first two days with Sarah Storey winning her second gold of the games in the Women's individual C4-5 500m time trial. The gold rush continued with Neil Fachie and Barney Storey in the Men's individual B 1km time trial with a WR time of 1.01.351.

After being disqualified yesterday, Jody Cundy took bronze in the Men's indivdual C4 pursuit by lapping opponent Diego German Duenas Gomez and Jon-Allan Butterworth secured silver in the C5 pursuit and set a WR time of 4.35.026 in qualifying for the final which was later broken by Australian Michael Gallagher.


The equestrians joined in on the medal haul with Lee Pearson winning silver in the grade Ib dressage which was won by Australian Joann Formosa. This meant Pearson missed out on a tenth consecutive Paralympic gold medal. Gold came in though for Natasha Baker in the dressage II with a Paralympic record of 76.857%.

Judo success for Samuel Ingram by winning silver in the Men's -90kg after losing in the final to Cuban Jorge Hierrezuelo Marcillis by way of Yuko.

At Eton Dorney, Nicholas Beighton and Samantha Scowen win their repechage in the mixed double sculls TAMix2x to qualify for tomorrow's A final with a time of 4:05.91.

In the Shooting, silver for Matthew Skelhorn in the mixed R3-10m air rifle prone-SH1 with James Bevis sealing bronze in the mixed R5-10m air rifle prone-SH2.

Like the velodrome, the pool has been a base of success and that continued with Ellie Simmonds blitzing home to gold with a new WR in the Women's 400m freestyle S6. Matthew Whorwood took bronze in the Men's 400m freestyle S6 with Ireland's Darragh McDonald taking the gold.
 
Sascha Kindred and Thomas Young miss out on medals in the men's 100m breaststroke SB& after finishing fourth and fifth with times of 1:23.53 and 1:23.69 respectively.

In the Excel centre for the Table Tennis, Ross Wilson will battle for bronze in the class 8 division after losing his semi-final 2-3 while William Bayley wins his class 7 semi-final 3-1 to guarantee him a medal and his celebration is one many will remember for a long time.

Day 3 done and dusted and GB sit third in the medal table behind China and Australia.

Paralympics Days 1 and 2

Paralympics 2012 are in full swing and Great Britain is already enjoying a massive early medal haul which the first medal, a silver won by Mark Colbourne in the men's Individual C1-2-3 1km time trial, behind surprise winner Li Zhang Yu of China.

 GB's first gold was won by Sarah Storey in the Track Cycling with her storming to a massive win over Anna Harkowska by securing an overtake with more than half of the race to go after earlier breaking a WR in the heats which became her 72nd career WR. Fellow Brit Crystal Lane finished fourth narrowly missing out on a medal.

Hannah Russell secured the second silver of the day  after a thrilling contest in the women's S12 400m freestyle, she won her heat in WR time and narrowly missed out on gold to Russian Oxana Savchenko by just 0.71 secs.

Nyree Kindred a bagged a silver medal in consecutive games after finishing second to Dong Lu in the women's S6 100m backstroke.

Jonathan Fox broke the world record in the men's S7 100m backstroke heat with a time of 1:09.86 to continue the success in the pool which he added to later on by storming to gold in the final.

In Judo, Ben Quilter missed out on gold but secured bronze after defeating Japan's Takaaki Hirai but had been a pre- games favourite for gold but hey bronze is better than nothing.

Zoe Newson won a brilliant bronze medal on her Paralympic Games debut in the women's -40kg power lifting by lifting 2.23 times her own bodyweight.

GB ended the day on seven medals - 2 gold,  4 silver and 1 bronze.

Day 2 saw the promise of yet more medals and the promise was fulfilled with gold on the track for Hannah Cockcroft with a new Paralymic record of 18.06 in the women's 100m T34 having broken the record she set in the heat of 18.34.

Just like in the Olympics, the velodrome seems to be the home of GB success as today saw a gold, three silvers and a bronze won. Mark Colbourne secured gold in the Men's individual C1 pursuit adding to his elver from yesterday. Jon-Allan Butterworth claimed silver in the Men's individual 1km time trial C4-5. However, defending Olympic champion Jody Cundy had a wheel spin from the starting block and asked for a restart which was refused and as sich was classified as DNF.

The Men's C3 individual pursuit saw a 2-3 for Great Britain as Shaun McKeown finishes second to American Joseph Berenyi with teammate Darren Kenny in third. Aileen McGlynn (piloted by Helen Scott) took silver in the women's individual B 1km time trial with. Lorna Turnham (piloted by Fiona Duncan) in fourth.

Eton Dorney like the Velodrome saw massive succes in the Olympics and the Paralympic hopes started well as Tom Aggar, ( defending Paralympic champion) in the men's single sculls, reaches the final and Nick Beighton and Samanthan Scowen finish second in their heat of the mixed double sculls, and head into the repechage to compete for a place in the final.
Pam Relph, Naomi Riches, David Smith, James Roe and cox Lily van den Broecke reach the final of the mixed cox four, after winning their heat.



More success in the pool as James Crisp takes silver in the final of the Men's 100m backstroke S9 while Chloe Davies, the youngest member of ParalympicsGB at the age of 13, sails through to the final of the Women's 100m backstroke S14, by winning her heat.

Jessica-Jane Applegate and Natalie Massey also qualify after finishing third and seventh respectively.A silver for Heather Frederiksen in the women's 400m freestyle S8 with a time of 5:00.50. Bronze and silver in the Men's 400m freestyle S8 for Sam Hynd and older brother Ollie Hynd.

 Stephanie Millward wins silver in the final of the women's 100m backstroke S9 after finishing second and brings GB's medal total to 20.