Like the opening festivities, the Tokyo Paralympic Games’ closing ceremony stunned audiences with its vibrancy and creative narrative. The final celebrations were held with a theme of ‘Harmonious Cacophony’, intended to celebrate the beautiful diversity of the human race and proffer a bright future filled with ‘unity in diversity.’ One of the most meaningful moments came during the opening segment of the ceremony, with a symbolic portrayal of Japan “taking up the baton of inspiration from the Paralympic Games.”
China was the clear winning country of the Games, with over double the number of gold medals than the runner-up, Britain — 207 medals in total. The USA came third, with 104.
ParalympicsGB put in a phenomenal performance overall; their total of 124 medals is higher than in London 2012. Here are some of the highlights from Britain’s Paralympic team:
The GB wheelchair rugby team
ParalympicsGB Wheelchair Rugby Team: Imagecomms
European champions though they are — with the highest number of gold medals and medals overall at the IWRF European championship — the team had yet to manage a podium finish at a Paralympic event. This year, the team smashed the streak by claiming gold, defeating the US team in the final after losing to them in pools. One member of the team, Kylie Grimes, became the first woman to win a gold medal in wheelchair rugby.
Sarah Storey
ParalympicsGB Sarah Storey: Imagecomms
With her seventeenth gold medal, Storey became the most decorated British Paralympic athlete. The swimmer-turned-cyclist achieved this feat during the first day of the Games, after acing the time trial section of the women’s pursuit C5. Impressively, the athlete has won nothing but gold since her cycling Paralympic debut in 2008.
Reece Dunn
ParalympicsGB Reece Dunn & Jordan Catchpole: Imagecomms
Making his Paralympic debut, Dunn shocked himself by taking home three gold medals despite a year of poor mental health spurred on by a bout of Covid back in December 2020. His time of 2:08.02 in the S14 men’s 200m individual medley broke the world record set by Japan’s Dai Tokairin. Dunn stated “I didn’t expect to win gold, I just wanted to medal.”
ParalympicGB’s chef de mission Penny Briscoe praised the GB athletes who attended the Tokyo Paralympics, saying: “it’s been complex and intensive and everyone involved should be hugely proud of their efforts.”
The Games also signified the launch of the WeThe15 campaign, an international effort looking to unite various sports, arts and human rights organisations to create a more inclusive world.
The organisers of the Tokyo Paralympic Games worked hard to spread a message of disabled visibility, believing the athletic display would spread awareness of and change perspectives about disability in Japan. The chairperson of the Japan Council on disability, Katsunori Fujii, argues that whilst these messages are welcome, they are ultimately meaningless unless they herald genuine societal change. With the UK also in need of further action to create an inclusive society, there is the hope that an international event such as this will at least contribute towards a widespread change in perception from the population as a whole.
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