Paralympic Games open to theme: ‘Heart knows no limits’

For almost four hours, the sold-out 78,000-seat stadium lit up the night sky with a cavalcade of fireworks, music, and dancing as the largest Paralympics Games ever gets underway. For the Rio 2016 Paralympics parade of nations, each nation entered carrying a piece of a jigsaw puzzle bearing the country’s name on one side and the faces of various athletes on the other.

With a single piano, the maestro Joao Carlos Martins was in charge of adding music to the anthem of Brazil and the hoisting of the flag of the country.Then, one by one, representatives from the 164 participating countries paraded around the stadium, including Ibrahim Al Hussein, a Syrian refugee who joins the Paralympics as an independent athlete. He later waved from one of the stands as the president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), reports Efe.

After cruising into the 200m freestyle S5 final in the morning heats, you would have forgiven the 10-time Olympic gold medalist for feeling a little pressure.

“We check all teams before they go out into the stadium, at every single games”, he said. Now sales have reached 1.6 million and are “growing every day”.

The 3-kilometer pursuit at the indoor velodrome track was the first event Fisher competed in during the games.

In Britain alone there is wheelchair racer David Weir, swimmers Ellie Simmonds and Ollie Hynd and cyclist Dame Sarah Storey, who will bid to surpass Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson as the British female with the most Paralympic gold medals on Thursday’s opening day.

Italy’s Alex Zanardi had both his legs amputated after a horrific CART crash in Germany 15 years ago and is now aiming to defend his road race and time trial titles in hand cycling’s H4 class.

The Australian made her debut at Heidelberg 1972 as a swimmer, switching to shooting four years later and never looked back.

At the Games in London in 2012, the Malaysian contingent won a silver in archery through Hasihin Sanawi in the recurve event and a bronze through Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli in athletics (shot put).

The 2016 Paralympic Games opened Wednesday with a bang – and a somersault.

The Paralympic Games opened Wednesday with 4,350 athletes demonstrating first-hand their creed: “The heart knows no limits; everybody has a heart”. “It’s been an absolutely brilliant opening ceremony”.

After allegations of state-sponsored doping, the IPC imposed a blanket ban on all Russian para-athletes, leaving more than 80 at home and unable to compete.

However, controversy hung over the no-show by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach – the first absence of an IOC chief since the 1984 Summer Games.

As the popular song with the lyrics “the party’s only just beginning” played out over the Maracana sound system, it served as a reminder of the 11 days of incredible sport that lie ahead.