Spectacular close to London 2012

by James Skitt - 10.09.12

A spectacular closing ceremony brought the curtain down on the London 2012 Paralympic Games on Sunday as ParalympicsGB celebrated smashing their pre games medal target.

Earlier on the final day of competition David Weir and Shelly Woods claimed Britain’s final two medals in the men and women’s T54 marathon respectively to ensure Great Britain finished third on the medals table behind China and Russia with a total of 120 medals (34 gold, 43 silver, 43 bronze).

That haul far exceeded the target of 103 set by UK Sport, including more medals in more sports, and is 18 more than were won in Beijing four years ago.

What’s more, the London 2012 Paralympic Games have been widely heralded the most successful ever with over 2.7 million tickets sold and huge television audiences.

Over the four years of the Paralympic cycle the English Institute of Sport (EIS) has worked with 15 of the 20 sports that were represented by ParalympicsGB in London, with practitioners working as part of multi-disciplinary teams to provide a holistic service that has supported both the athletes and their coaches.

In addition, 29 EIS employees supported ParalympicsGB in variety of performance improvement roles throughout the games.

EIS National Director Nigel Walker said: “The Paralympics and ParalympicsGB were an overwhelming success by whichever measure anyone would care to use.

“It was 11 days of outstanding competition during which ParalympicsGB surpassed their medal target set by UK Sport and unearthed heroes and heroines whose sporting exploits will live long in the memory.”

Today’s athletes parade through central London provided an opportunity to acknowledge the huge success of TeamGB and ParalympicsGB, with Walker adding, “London 2012 produced two outstanding sporting festivals where Team GB and ParalympicsGB, through their outstanding performances, made a whole nation incredibly proud.

“From an EIS perspective I’m delighted that our staff played their part in the preparation and support of the athletes both in and out of the competition arena.”

Photography © Getty Images