Rio Paralympics Closing Ceremony

A superbly devised opening to the closing ceremony saw a quirky 'Siri-esque' conversation on the big screens before a guitar spectacular accompanied by acrobats and performers including Jonathan Bastos who plays the guitar with his feet and featured in the illusive 'Yes I Can' promo for Channel 4.

Next up was the introduction of IPC President Sir Phillip Craven to the crowd before the Brazilian flag entered the Maracana floor followed by the singing of the Brazilian national anthem as the flag was raised alongside the Paralympic flag. The parade of the flags followed with the GB flag being carried by double gold medallist Kadeena Cox, the first to win a medal for GB in two sports in a single games since 1988.

A wonderful parade it was too with colour filling the arena floor with the flag bearers accompanied by the 'cloud' attired volunteers and the biggest roar of the parade came with the entry of the Brazilian flag. Fireworks light up the night sky before an audio-visual celebration of diversity featuring the flora and fauna of Brazil, a pleasure to see and hear.

Next up,the crowd were treated to a number of local singers, far better than some of those seen on the XFactor over here that's for sure including a great performance from Vanessa Da Mata. Ibrahim Al Hussein and Tatyana McFadden were presented with the prestigious Whang Youn Dai award.

Following that,  the five athletes elected to the IPC Athletes Council  -  Monica Bascio, Kurt Fearnley Chelsey Gotell, Elvira Stinissen and Dame Sarah Storey were introduced on stage followed by a lovely presentation to the representatives of the games volunteers.

A great performance of 'One Love' was followed by a montage of some of the best moments of the games and the Paralympic Anthem which was played superbly as the Paralympic flag was lowered leading into the handover ceremony. This saw the Paralympic flag passed from the Brazilian representative to IPC President Sir Phillip Craven and onto the Governor of Tokyo which was followed by the Japanese national anthem and flag raising.

The screens displayed a thank you to Rio from Japan and outlining their history in the games from first medallists to their mantra for 2020 -'Positive Switch'. This was followed by a vision of Tokyo in the form of imagination through colourful dancing and music led by Akira Hiyama and culminating with the invitation - 'See You In Tokyo'.

A montage featuring the Rio 2016 team from officials to competitors to volunteers with emotions both positive and reflective. The speech from  Rio 2016 Organising Committee President, Carlos Arthur Nuzman opened with a touching tribute to the Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad who passed away yesterday.

He went on to praise Brazil and acclaimed - ' Mission Accomplished' and added ' The impossible happened. Brazilians never give up'. Thanking the volunteers for their dedication, competence and enthusiasm. Ending by saying ' Congratulations Rio, Congratulations Brazil and Good Luck Tokyo'.

IPC President Sir Phillip Craven also opened his speech with a tribute to Bahman Golbarnezhad with a moment of silence and praising 'The Cariocas' for the enthusiasm and stunning city with his souvenir being the 'Fantastic Cariocas'. He announced that the Paralympic Order award would be given to the people of Rio and Brazil itself. Going on to thank all those involved in the games before reminiscing on 'The Letter of the Future' from the Beijing 2008 closing ceremony before officially closing the games.

The speeches now completed, it was time to as the announcer put it - 'Rock the Maracana' and the slight rainfall certainly didn't dampen the mood as the party started. A superb collection of songs to get the crowd pumped and dancing including a brilliant performance from Hull's very own Calum Scott who featured on Britain's Got Talent in 2015. The ceremony ended with the extinguishing of the Paralympic Flame and spectacular performance from Ivete Sangalo with a fabulous firework display lighting up the Rio skyline.

An absolutely awesome month or so covering both the Rio Olympics and Paralympics topped off with a mention from the double Paralympic champion Kadeena Cox on Twitter after choosing her as my highlight of the Paralympic games. It's goodbye for now on this blog portal until February 2018 for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang!

Rio Paralympics Days 10/11

Day ten saw the final full day of competition and like many across the games, it was an historic one as ParalympicsGB achieved their best medal haul since Seoul 1988 with a total of 147 thereby also passing the total of 131 from Sydney 2000. However, the death of Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad overshadowed the action on Saturday after the 48-year-old suffered fatal injuries during a crash in the men's C4-5 road race.

GB's success began with Dame Sarah Storey extending her lead as the most decorated female Paralympian with her third gold of the games in the Women's C4-5 road race with fellow Brit Crystal Lane collecting the bronze. 

Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby took bronze in the men's B road race (for the visually impaired) while in the Archery, a stunning GB 1-2-3 in the W1 individual archery as Jess Stretton defeated Jo Frith in the final and Vicky Jenkins took bronze. Gold in the Mixed Team Archery as Jo Frith and John Walker took the title over South Korea. 

Over in the pool, Bethany Firth stormed to the SM14 200m individual medley with Jessica-Jane Applegate taking the silver while Ollie Hynd set a new world record as he took the SM8 200m medley. Hannah Russell took gold in the women's S12 50m freestyle final with Stephanie Millward taking silver in the women's 200m individual medley, Tom Hamer powered to silver in the men's version.

Ellie Robinson won bronze in the S6 100m freestyle, Andrew Mullen collected the S5 50m backstroke silver and 200m freestyle bronze. The biggest surprise in the pool came from the youngest swimmer for GB as Abby Kane at just 13 claimed a superb silver in the women's S13 100m backstroke.


Great Britain's wheelchair basketball team won bronze by beating Turkey 82-76 in a thrilling finish while on the track, Maria Lyle collected bronze in the T35 200m while in Sailing, Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell won bronze in the two-person keelboat and Helena Lucas repeated the feat in the one-person keelboat 2.4mR.

Day 11 saw the eventing come to an end and for the first day of the entire games, no medals for GB but with an overall haul of 64 golds - the most since 1988 and 147 medals also bettering 1988, GB have well and truly smashed it in Rio!

After Lee Pearson led the ParalympicsGB team out in the opening ceremony the history making Kadeena Cox will carry the flag out at tonight's closing ceremony. 

Finishing second in the medal table behind China, they set 49 Paralympic and 27 world records. Both the oldest (Anne Dunham) and youngest (Abby Kane) competitors on the team claimed medals, and 11 sports won gold medals with a record-equalling 15 securing at least one medal.

A truly great Paralympic games to write about but it's not over yet, one more review to come of what will hopefully be a superb closing ceremony and the 'closing' updates wise of this blog until the Winter Olympics/Paralympics in 2018.....

Rio Paralympics Day Nine

Day nine saw ParalympicsGB record more historic success as the target of 121 medals (one better than London 2012) was not only reached but surpassed with two days left of the games.

Nine golds across the day began with the 50th of the games for GB as Paul Blake took gold in the T36 400m while there was success in Boccia for David Smith and Archery for John Walker. GB's Queen of the track Hannah Cockroft stormed to her third title of the games with the T34 800m with fellow Brit Kare Adenegan collecting bronze behind her.

Gordon Reid overcame fellow Brit Alfie Hewett in Wheelchair Tennis while a superb haul came in the Equestrian as Sophie Christiansen secured her third gold of the games alongside titles for Lee Pearson and Natasha Baker. Also in the Dressage, Sophie Wells and Anne Dunham claimed silvers while on the road, David Stone took silver in the T1-2 Road Cycling.

In the pool, silver for Andrew Mullen in the S5 50m backstroke and bronze for Hannah Russell in the S13 100M Freestyle before a stunning final event of the day saw the GB quartet of Alice Tai, Stephanie Slater, Claire Cashmore and Stephanie Millward set a new world record as they stormed to the 4x100m medley 34 points title.

Will Bayley, Aaron McKibbin and Ross Wilson won class 6-8 bronze in the team event while Dan Greaves collected bronze in the F44 Discus. However, it was not all joy for GB as the Women's Wheelchair Basketball missed out on bronze as they were thrashed 76-34 by Netherlands.

Rio Paralympics Day Eight

Day eight was a mixed one for ParalympicsGB with a superb start on the water followed by some tough events across the day with the evening seeing the target of 50 gold medals firmly in sight.

A superb session in the Para-canoeing saw three golds and two bronzes in the Lagoa sunshine and started with Jeanette Chippington becoming the first ever champion with a win in the KL1 Class. Emma Wiggs claimed the KL2 title before Anna Dickins secured the 100th medal of the games for GB with the KL3 crown. The bronzes came for Nick Beighton in the KL2 final and Ian Marsden  in the KL1 final.

Equestrian success saw Sophie Christiansen and Natasha Baker defending their titles with Anne Durham claiming silver behind Christiansen in the 1A Championship. The team are assured gold in the overall standings which will be confirmed on day nine. A silver in wheelchair tennis after Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett lost out to the French duo Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer 6-2 4-6 6-1.

The GB quartet of Kadeena Cox, Georgie Hermitage, Sophie Hahn and Maria Lyle collected silver in the T35-38 4x100m while also on the track, Richard Whitehead took joint silver in the T42 200m. Over in the pool, no golds on day eight for GB but a bronze for Charlotte Henshaw in the SB6 100m breaststroke.

GB's wheelchair basketball saw the women lose out 89-78 to the United States and will face Germany or the Netherlands for the bronze medal while in wheelchair rugby, a tense overtime period saw GB lose 50-49 to Canada.

Elsewhere, United States wheelchair athlete Tatyana McFadden won her fifth career Paralympic gold when she claimed the 1500m title while New Zealand sprinter Liam Malone stormed to the T44 400m in a world record time to claim his second gold of the games. 

Rio Paralympics Day Seven

Day Seven proved to be yet another glorious day for ParalympicsGB with nine golds which resulted in 43 overall. After levelling London's haul the previous day, it was apt that the title that surpassed the 34 was claimed by Dame Sarah Storey as she eased to win the C5 cycling time trial. Further time trial golds came in the hand cycling H-13 for Karen Darke and Men's B tandem for Steve Bate and pilot Adam Duggleby.

A stunning evening session saw a procession of golds as part of an hour which saw 10 medals claimed Hannah Cockroft stormed to gold in the T34 400m with fellow Brit Kare Adenegan collecting bronze. Kadeena Cox added to her gold in cycling with a wonderful world record in the T38 400m while in equestrian, Sophie Wells took gold in the Grade IV dressage individual championship.

Another great evening in the pool began with Claire Cashmore taking silver in the SB8 100m breaststroke followed by a GB 1-2 in the S7 400m freestyle for Michael Jones and Jonathan Fox.
Susannah Rodgers took bronze in the Women's S7 400m freestyle before another GB 1-2 as Aaron Moores pipping team-mate Scott Quin to win the SB14 100m breaststroke. Bethany Firth took silver in the Women's SB14 100m breaststroke with the final medal in the run seeing Hannah Russell smash her own world record in the Women's S12 100m backstroke.

Andy Lapthorne took silver in the wheelchair tennis quad single as he lost 6-3 6-4 to Dylan Alcott of Australia while Lee Pearson also took silver in the Grade IV dressage individual championship. Lora Turnham and pilot Corrine Hall took bronze in the Women's B tandem time trial with a superb bronze for Maria Lyle in the T35 100m before David Stone claimed bronze in the Tricycle T1-2 time trial.


In their quarter-final match, the GB men's wheelchair basketball team delivered one of their greatest ever performances at a Paralympics to beat world champions Australia 74-51 while David Weir eased into the T54 800m final and wins for Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid set up an all-GB final in the tennis singles which will come after they combine in Thursday's doubles final.

Elsewhere, Italian former Formula 1 driver Alex Zanardi continued his dominance of Paralympic hand-cycling as he took the H5 road time trial title, Iran's Siamand Rahman set three new world records in 30 minutes in the men's +107kg powerflifting, winning gold with a lift of 310kg.

Rio Paralympics Day Six

Day six saw ParalympicsGB equal their haul of gold medals from London 2012 with three in the space of 20 minutes late in the evening. Libby Clegg with guide Chris Clarke stormed to the T11 200m title after the home favourite and defending champion Guilhermina Terezinha was disqualified for a false start while also on the track, Georgie Hermitage set a new world record on her way to the T37 400m.

Hollie Arnold set back-to-back world records as she won the F46 Javelin with a throw of 43.01 while Rob Davies claimed the Class 1 table tennis title. Piers Gilliver took silver in the men's individual epee wheelchair fencing while Stephen Miller claimed bronze in the F32 club throw.

Over in the pool, Stephanie Millward eased to gold in the S8 100m backstroke, four seconds clear of Australia's Maddison Elliott - in a new Paralympic record time of 1:13.02. Matt Wylie took gold in the S9 50m freestyle and Ollie Hynd secured silver in the S8 100m.

Ellie Simmonds and David Weir both relinquished titles with Simmonds taking bronze in the S6 400m freestyle with Weir finishing fourth in the T54 1500m. Success in wheelchair tennis as Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker took bronze in the women's wheelchair tennis doubles.

Elsewhere, in an all-Polish fencing final, Adrian Castro won bronze in the men's individual sabre event category B at the expense of his future father-in-law, Grzegorz Pluta. America's Tatyana McFadden claimed her second gold medal of the Rio Games and her fifth overall at the Paralympics by winning the women's 1500m T53/54 final.

China's Shang Guangxu,  smashed his own world record twice as he took gold with 6.77m in a superb men's long jump T37 final and his compatriot Hu Jianwen also set a world record of 10.74 to win the men's 100m T38 final.

Rio Paralympics Day Five

Day five saw the great success for ParalympicsGB continue with a total of five golds. A superb evening in the pool saw Sascha Kindred and Ellie Simmonds storm to their seventh and fifth Paralympic golds with world records in the Men's and Women's SM6 200m while Susie Rodgers set a PB as she won the S7 50m butterfly. 

Earlier on, Will Bayley and Aled Davies took gold in the Class 7 table tennis and F42 shot put while in the Archery, John Stubbs and Jodie Grinham won silver, before Jonathan Broom-Edwards finished second in the T44 high jump.

The progress towards other medals saw Libby Clegg ease into the final of the T11 200m with her guide Chris Clarke and a strong opening in the equestrian as Sophie Christiansen scored 77.522% - the highest of the competition so far.

Success in wheelchair tennis saw Gordon Reid cruise into the last eight with a 6-0 6-2 over France's Frederic Cattaneo.He was joined by Alfie Hewitt in the next round before the duo claimed a comfortable 6-2 6-0 win over Spanish duo Daniel Caverzaschi and Martin de la Puent in the men's doubles.

Elsewhere, Brazil's Daniel Dias won his 20th Paralympic gold medal  in the men's S5 50m freestyle, American Rebecca Meyers dominated the field in the women's S13 400m freestyle to secure her third Rio gold and New Zealand's Sophie Pascoe picked up her third gold medal, this time claiming victory in the SM4 150m medley.

Rio Paralympics Day Four

Day Four saw a new record for Paralympics GB as they claimed 21 medals, their best single day haul in history. Richard Whitehead retained his title in the T42 200m with fellow Brit Dave Henson collecting the bronze. Bethany Firth eased to gold in the S14 200m freestyle as Jessica-Jane Applegate took silver. Gold for Jo Butterfield in the F51 club throw.

Over in the pool, Rebecca Redfern also set a new European record in the SB13 100m breaststroke as she claimed silver, Thomas Hamer also took silver in the S14 200m freestyle while Amy Marren, Josef Craig and Stephanie Millward collected bronze in the water.

On the water,Rachel Morris claimed gold in the arms-shoulders single sculls, before Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley won the trunk-and-arms mixed double sculls followed by gold for the mixed coxed four and bronze for Tom Aggar in the men's arms-shoulders single sculls.

In Cycling, Lora Turnham won the B 3km individual pursuit ahead of a new world record for the Men's C-15 team as they took the gold with Neil Fachie collecting silver in the B 1km time trial silver and Sophie Thornhill and pilot Helen Scott sealing bronze in the B 3km pursuit. Success also came for Triathlon duo Lauren Steadman and Alison Patrick as they took silver in the PT4 and PT5 with Melissa Reid also taking PT5 bronze.

David Weir stormed to victory in the heats of the T54 400m to complete a superb day after the birth of his son earlier on. Lee Pearson started well in the Dressage as led the event with a score of 75.280%. Success in wheelchair tennis for Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker as they beat Chile's Macarena Cabrillana and Francisca Mardones 6-0 6-0 in the women's doubles quarter-finals while the men's pair of Alfie Hewitt and Gordon Reid also went through to the second round of the men's doubles.

Elsewhere,Tatyana McFadden took gold in the T54 400m, two days after claiming silver in the T54 100m while compatriot David Brown followed her success in the T11 100m, as he set a Paralympic record of 10.99 seconds to win gold.

Rio Paralympics Day Three

Day Three saw another huge medal haul for ParalympicsGB with eight in total across the day. Kadeena Cox stormed to gold in the C4-5 Time Trial as she became the first Brit since 1988 to secure a medal in two different sports toppling Isabel Barr's milestone which saw her medal in Shooting and Athletics at Seoul.

Hannah Cockroft retained her T34 100m title with  15-year-old team-mate Kare Adenegan taking silver. The first gold of the day went to Andy Lewis with victory in the PT2 Para-triathlon. Bronzes for Sabrina Fortune in the F20 shot put and Alice Tai in the S10 100m backstroke. Toby Gold took silver and compatriot Andy Small bronze in the T33 100m.

Paralympic veteran Sascha Kindred was sixth in the S5 50m freestyle before Andrew Mullen finished fourth in the S5 50m butterfly.

Elsewhere, Slovakia's Darko Duric entertained the crowd in the aquatics centre after he forgot to take the headphones off the top of his cap before his 50m butterfly S5 race and also in the pool, Ukrainian Maksym Krypak broke the world record in the S10 100m backstroke with a time of 57.24 seconds.

Rio Paralympics Day Two

After a superb opening day for ParalympicsGB, they continued their medal haul into Day Two with great success as they claimed seven gold medals. Jonnie Peacock retained his title in the T44 100 with a superb performance while the trio of Georgie Hermitage, Sophie Hahn and Libby Clegg stormed to wins in the T37,T38 and T11 100m with Georgie and Libby setting new world records.

Dominance in the velodrome continued as Sophie Thornhill, with pilot Helen Scott set a new record in taking the Women's B 1,000m time trial as did Jody Cundy in the C4-5 1km. In the pool, 15-year-old Ellie Robinson set a Paralympic record in the Women's 50m butterfly to take gold while Steph Slater won silver in the Women's 100m butterfly S8.

There were also Games records for Thornhill and Scott - in the Women's B 1,000m time trial - and Cundy, who won the C4-5 1km. Stef Reid and Ali Jawad won silvers in the long jump and powerlifting respectively, while club thrower Gemma Prescott, powerlifter Zoe Newson, and swimmers Susannah Rodgers and Lewis White secured bronzes.

Hannah Cockroft reached the T34 100m final without even racing after the heats were scrapped with fellow Brits Kare Adenegan and Carly Tait joining her while in rowing, GB's TA mixed double sculls and LTA mixed coxed four both won their heats to reach their finals on Sunday.

Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley finished first in the double sculls in a new world best of three minutes 52.16 seconds at Lagao with the mixed coxed four - Daniel Brown, Grace Clough, Pamela Relph, James Fox and cox Oliver James - clocked three minutes 25.08 seconds.

Rachel Morris, a gold medallist in cycling at the 2008 Paralympics, is through to the final of the AS single sculls and in wheelchair basketball, GB's men claimed back-to-back wins with a 82-62 win over Iran while the women romped past Argentina 79-20.

Elsewhere, Irish sprinter Jason Smyth won a third straight gold medal in the T13 100m, Canada wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos, took gold in the Men's 100m T53.  China continued to dominate the medals table as they took gold, silver and bronze in the Men's 50m butterfly S8 and American Tatyana McFadden, who is competing in seven events in Rio, started her campaign with silver in the 100m T54.

Rio Paralympics Day One

After the amazing opening ceremony, the action began in Rio with ParalympicsGB securing their first gold of the games in the velodrome as Megan Giglia stormed to take the C1-3 Individual Pursuit. The success continued with Dame Sarah Storey taking gold in the Women's C5 3,000m individual pursuit to become the most successful female GB Paralympian with 12 gold medals. Crystal Lane took silver in the event.

Steve Bate and pilot Adam Duggleby won gold in the Men's B 4,000m individual pursuit final before a great evening in the pool saw Bethany Firth set a new world record as she won the Women's S14 100m backstroke with Jessica-Jane Applegate taking bronze.

A superb swim from Oliver Hynd saw him take gold in the Men's S8 400m freestyle, Johnathan Fox narrowly missed out on retaining his title in the Men's S7 100m backstroke as he took silver and Harriet Lee also took silver in the Women's SB9 100m breaststroke. A superb opening day haul of 11 medals also saw bronzes for Stephanie Millward in the Women's S8 400m freestyle and Andrew Mullen  in the Men's S5 200m freestyle final.


On the track, Jonnie Peacock stormed to a Paralympic record in the T44 100m as he began the defence of his title while Georgina Hermitage equalled her own world record as she blitzed her T37 100m heat. 19-year old Sophie Hahn dazzled in the T38 100m as she smashed the Paralympic record with fellow Brit Kareena Cox also advancing.

GB's men started their campaign in Wheelchair Basketball superbly with a 93-31 win over Algeria while the women lost out 43-36 to world champions Canada.

Rio Paralympics Opening Ceremony

After a superb Olympic Games, the wait for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games was finally over and what a superb way to open the games it was on a rainy Rio evening.

The ceremony began with the introduction of IPC president Sir Philip Craven travelling from Stoke Mandeville to Rio via a clever video feature. A rapturous countdown came to an end with a stunning ramp trick from Aaron Wheelz who back-flipped to the awe of the packed Maracana.

A tribute to the wheel with a samba circle opened the floor section of the ceremony before the tech-screened floor of the stadium transformed firstly into a pool and then a colourful and busy beach scene which awash with colour was a great spectacle. The Brazilian flag was carried into the Maracana and raised by a trio of firefighters while pianist Joao Carlos Martins played the national anthem.

Next up was the Athletes parade which featured a huge 159 countries and lasted well over an hour but with an added twist amongst the clever colours and dynamic designs of the outfits and accessories. The placards displaying the names of each country were puzzle pieces which were assembled in the centre of the floor as the parade went on. The pieces displayed the faces of each of the 4000+ Paralympians but what would  they combine to form?


The final piece was put in place with the floor lighting up to form a heart which pumped in time with the music and was joined by a huge array of fireworks to perfectly sum up the message of the games - 'The heart has no limits'











After the parade came the serious stuff as the president of the Rio Organizing Committee spoke but was subjected to a raucous chorus of boos when he thanked the Brazilian Government which currently is in a mire with an acting president in Michel Temer. After Phillip Craven's speech,he must have set a new record for declaring a games open as he simply did just that as the boos resumed.

The ceremony did end superbly though with dancing and music with the highlight being Amy Purdy's routine in which the American Snowboarder was accompanied by Kuka the Robot in a performance not to be missed.

Also not to be missed was the final procession of the Paralympic flame which saw a minor blip with a carrier falling in the heavy rain but with continuing amazingly before the final leg saw the flame stopped at a flight of stairs. The wheelchair based athlete came to a stop thinking he had hit a limit but the stairs transformed into a wheelchair ramp, enabling him to reach the Paralympic cauldron.

A great way to start what should be an amazing and exciting 11 days of competition and hopefully Paralympics GB can reach the target of 121 medals (one better than London 2012) and go even further!