E-Paper
Paralympics end with music - and relief
RIO DE JANEIRO: Rio said farewell to the 2016 Paralympics on Sunday in a Closing Ceremony showcasing Brazil’s passion for music and celebrating what many consider
RIO DE JANEIRO: Rio said farewell to the 2016 Paralympics on Sunday in a Closing Ceremony showcasing Brazil’s passion for music and celebrating what many consider to have been a surprisingly successful Games.
The famous Maracana football stadium was packed, with the Paralympians themselves seated across the field, as proceedings kicked off with fireworks.
Among the first performers was Jonathan Bastos, a Brazilian who was born without arms but has became an accomplished musician, playing the guitar with his feet. Then it was Ricardinho, star of Brazil’s gold medal winning five-a-side Paralympic football team, who brought out the national flag.
But the glittering celebration — at one point featuring an unscripted conga line of dancing athletes — paused for a minute’s silence to remember the fatal crash of an Iranian cyclist on Saturday. Bahman Golbarnezhad’s death during the road race left the Paralympic movement “united in grief,” Philip Craven, the International Paralympic Committee president, said in a speech.
Overall, organisers are breathing a sigh of relief that predictions of failure for South America’s first Olympics and Paralympics were proved wrong.
“Mission accomplished,” said Carlos Nuzman, president of the Rio organising committee. Referring to the political instability and deep recession plaguing Brazil, he conceded that it had been “a mission of many doubts.”
As Craven declared the Games over — with Tokyo now taking up the baton for 2020 — he said Brazil had passed a difficult test.
“These Games importantly signal a very bright future for this youthful and wonderful nation,” Craven said.
