Rio de Janeiro, September 19: The closing ceremony of Rio Paralympic Games 2016 turned into a feast of light, colour and music in the Maracana stadium with the theme “Biodiversity: Our Inspiration”.
The ceremony began here on Sunday with a dance by a group of 16 wheelchair users and an epic guitar duet by Andreas Kisser of Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura and an armless guitarist, reports Efe.
After a speech by the President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Philip Craven, singer Saulo Lucas, who suffers from autism, sang the Brazilian national anthem.
Later, unlike at the opening ceremony, a parade of one athlete from each of the 160 participating countries in the Rio Paralympics, brought their national flags out.The US track and field athlete Tatyana McFadden and Syrian swimmer Ibrahim Al-Hussein were announced as winners of the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award. Since 1988 this award is given at every Paralympic Games to one male and one female athlete who “best exemplify the spirit of the Games and inspire and excite the world”.
The International Paralympic Committee anthem, played by musicians Daniel Santiago, Pedro Martins and Mestrinho, marked the transition from Rio to Tokyo 2020.
The anthem of Japan was played, and then Tokyo governor Yoriko Koike received the flag, followed by performances of several dancers, some in wheelchairs.
After the show, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games delivered an official speech, saying the Paralympic Games have been spectacular.
IPC President Craven said that Brazil, as a country and the people of Rio de Janeiro, in recognition of their outstanding support, will be awarded the Paralympic Order, the highest honour the body can bestow.
The ceremony continued with musical performances by Saulo, singer Negro do Borel and a funk group from Rio de Janeiro the Dream Team do Passinho.
Paralympics closing ceremony pays tribute to Golbarnezhad
The president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Philip Craven, was among those to pay tribute to Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad during the Paralympic Games closing ceremony here.
Golbarnezhad died after an accident while competing in the C4-5 road race on Saturday, reports Xinhua.
“Tonight is a celebration of the last 12 days of sport but it’s also a very somber occasion following yesterday’s extremely tragic events,” Craven said during a speech at the Maracana stadium during Sunday’s closing ceremony. “The passing of Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad has affected us all and left the whole Paralympic movement united in grief.
“Tonight, I would like you to join me in paying our condolences to his family, friends, his teammates and the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran by observing a moment of silence in his memory.”
Flags were lowered to half mast at the Paralympic village and Iran took a photo of Golbarnezhad on to the podium after winning their sitting volleyball gold medal on Sunday.
“There is one bitterness and one sweetness,” said Masoud Ashrafi, the secretary general of Iran’s Paralympic Committee. “Today we are so happy because the sitting volleyball team were able to win the gold medal. And we are going to present this gold medal to the soul of Bahman Golbarnezhad.”
