Thousands packed into London’s Olympic Park stadium for a lavish closing ceremony of music, art, and fire.
Britain’s spectacular summer of sport ended on Sunday with the Paralympic Games closing ceremony led by British band Coldplay as the Olympic Stadium once again hosted a memorable party for athletes and fans alike.
Paralympians rose and joined in with the Mexican waves inside the vast arena in east London even before the extravaganza was underway to signal the end of the 11-day festival of sport.
China finished top of the medal table, bagging 95 golds in their 231-medal haul with Russia (36 golds, 102 overall) and hosts Britain (34 golds, 120 overall) in second and third respectively.
“We’ve shared some wonderful days haven’t we?,” London Olympics chairman Sebastian Coe said to the packed stadium who gave a roar of approval.
“Days where incredible people have performed feats we hardly thought possible. The Paralympians have lifted the cloud of limitation.”
The London Paralympics sold 2.7 million tickets in total, almost 900,000 more tickets than Beijing four years ago and the unprecedented sales brought in nearly $72.12m, exceeding organisers’ original target.
