2016 Summer Paralympics

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The **2016 Summer Paralympics** (Template:Lang-pt), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. The Games marked the first time a Latin American and South American city hosted the event, the second Southern Hemisphere city and nation, the first one being the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, and also the first time a Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country hosted the event. These Games saw the introduction of two new sports to the Paralympic program: canoeing and the paratriathlon.

The lead-up to these Paralympics were met with financial shortcomings attributed to tepid sponsor interest and ticket sales, which resulted in cuts to volunteer staffing and transport, the re-location of events and the partial deconstruction of the Deodoro venue cluster. However, ticket sales began to increase as the Games drew nearer, and over two million tickets were sold in total—overtaking Beijing 2008 as the second-most-attended Paralympic Games on record.

A refugee Paralympic team was hosted for the first time, featuring two refugees from Iran and Syria respectively. For the fourth consecutive Summer Paralympics, China topped the medal table, winning 107 gold medals, followed by Great Britain and Ukraine, while Georgia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam won their first ever Paralympic gold medals. For the first time in Paralympic history, and the first time in the Olympics or Paralympics since 1960, an athlete—Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad—died during competition.

## Bidding process

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As part of a formal agreement between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee first established in 2001, the winner of the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics was also to host the 2016 Summer Paralympics. Following the third and final round of voting at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen on 2 October 2009, the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were awarded to Rio de Janeiro.

## Development and preparation

The 2007 Pan American Games and Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro marked the first time that the Pan Am Games and Parapan Am Games were hosted as parallel events in the same host city; Rio's organization of the two events helped provide the city with experience in hosting multi-sport events, and Paralympic sporting events. Andrew Parsons, president of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee, remarked that the organizing teams responsible for the Olympics and Paralympics were maintaining a good relationship and "speaking the same language" in relation to their organizational duties. Parsons praised how well-organized the 2012 Summer Paralympics were, and felt that his team had learned lessons from London that could be applied in Rio.

### Venues

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As had been common practice since the Olympics and Paralympics began to formally share host cities, the Paralympics' venues were shared with those of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Barra da Tijuca hosted most of the venues, with the remainder located in Copacabana Beach, Maracanã and Deodoro. Barra da Tijuca also housed the athletes' village.

#### Barra cluster

* Carioca Arena 1 – Wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby
* Carioca Arena 2 – Boccia
* Carioca Arena 3 – Judo, wheelchair fencing
* Future Arena – Goalball
* Olympic Aquatics Stadium – Swimming
* Olympic Tennis Centre – 5-a-side football, wheelchair tennis
* Pontal Beach – Road cycling
* Riocentro – Powerlifting, Sitting volleyball, table tennis
* Rio Olympic Arena – Wheelchair basketball
* Rio Olympic Velodrome – Track cycling

#### Deodoro cluster

* National Shooting Center – shooting
* National Equestrian Center – equestrian
* Deodoro Stadium – 7-a-side football

#### Maracanã cluster

* Maracanã Stadium – opening and closing ceremonies
* Estádio Olímpico João Havelange – athletics (track and field)
* Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí – archery

#### Copacabana cluster

* Fort Copacabana – Athletics, Triathlon and Road Cycling
* Marina da Glória – sailing
* Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas – canoeing and rowing

### Medals

 File:Medalhas paralimpicas.jpg
The medal design for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled on 14 June 2016; they were produced by the Casa da Moeda do Brasil. The bronze and silver medals contain 30% recycled materials, while the gold medals were produced using gold that had been mined and extracted using means that met a series of sustainability criteria, such as being extracted without the use of mercury. The obverse of the Paralympic medals feature the Paralympic emblem and an inscription in braille, while each medal contains differing numbers of metal balls to allow the visually impaired to audibly distinguish their color by shaking them. They are accompanied by a wooden carrying box, and a plush toy of Paralympic mascot Tom with hair leaves that match the medal's color.

### Ticketing

The initial financial shortcomings of the 2016 Paralympics were primarily attributed to slow ticket sales and poor public interest, despite the cheapest tickets only costing roughly a quarter of those for the Olympics. During the Olympics, organizers stated that only 12% of an original target of 3.3 million tickets had been sold. By early September, only half of the tickets to medal events had been sold.

On 23 August 2016, Greg Nugent, who was head of marketing of the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics, began a campaign on Twitter known as "#FillTheSeats", encouraging users to donate money to supply local youth and people with disabilities with tickets to the Paralympics. Nugent began the campaign after noticing the large number of empty seats at competition venues during the 2016 Summer Olympics. Following endorsements of the campaign by prominent figures, such as British band Coldplay (which performed the closing ceremony in 2012), it raised over US$15,000 by 30 August. On 31 August 2016, the IPC and the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee announced that it would officially back the #FillTheSeats campaign, and set a new goal of $300,000—which the IPC said could be used to fund the distribution of 10,000 tickets, along with food and transport, for the opening ceremony to Brazilian scholars and disabled peoples.

As part of a revised ticketing strategy, the organizers set a new target of 2.4 million tickets, with the cheapest tickets costing R$10 (US$3) each. Ticketing director Donovan Ferreti told *The Guardian* that a "last-minute" demand for tickets had begun to develop in the final days before the opening ceremony. He explained that the tickets were "really affordable" and "cheaper than going to see a movie", and would allow spectators to "have a great time with high-performance competition and have a great day out in the Olympic Park." The low cost of tickets helped to attract attendees to the Paralympics—especially families, while athletes praised the large and energetic crowds that resulted.

On the third day of the Games, the IPC announced that at least 1.8 million tickets had been sold—surpassing the 1.7 million of the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing as the second-largest Paralympics in terms of ticket sales. The next day, Barra Olympic Park had a total attendance of 167,675, marking its largest overall attendance across a single day of competition during either the Olympics or Paralympics (the Olympics only reached a peak of around 157,000). On 14 September, the IPC announced that sales had exceeded 2 million.

## Torch relay

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The Paralympic torch relay began with five individual flames being relayed to a city in each of the five regions of Brazil. These flames, as well as a sixth flame lit in Stoke Mandeville, Great Britain, were united to form a single Paralympic flame, which was relayed through Rio on 6 and 7 September 2016 en route to its lighting at the Maracanã during the opening ceremony.

## Marketing

### Emblem

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The official emblem for the 2016 Summer Paralympics was designed by the Brazilian agency Tatíl Design, and unveiled on 26 November 2011 during the Christmas tree lighting at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas. It consists of a heart incorporating the infinity symbol, representing a beating heart and an "infinite energy to overcome obstacles". IPC president Philip Craven described the emblem as symbolizing the "heart" of athletes, who were the "heart" of the Paralympic movement.

As with the Olympic emblem, the Paralympic emblem was designed so that it could also be rendered in two- and three-dimensional versions, such as a sculpture that was used during the unveiling.

### Mascot

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The official mascots of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled on 24 November 2014, with their respective names, Vinicius and Tom, chosen via a public vote whose results were announced on 14 December 2014. The Paralympic mascot, Tom, is named after Brazilian musician Tom Jobim; it represents Brazilian flora and "is always growing and overcoming obstacles." The mascots' fictional backstories state that they were both born from the joy of Brazilians after it was announced that Rio would host the Games. Brand director Beth Lula stated that the mascots are intended to reflect the diversity of Brazil's culture and people.

## See also

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* 2015 Parapan American Games
* 2016 Summer Olympics
* Rising Phoenix, documentary about the Paralympic movement that covers the financial difficulties of the 2016 Paralympic Games

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## External links

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* Rio de Janeiro 2016 Official Homepage
* Rio de Janeiro 2016 from the International Paralympic Committee
* Results & Records

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