Talent, pride, determination — as a motto that might look like nothing more than a
collection of buzzwords at first glance, British Paralympic Association marketing speak that counts for little during the unforgiving heat of competition.
But those three qualities coalesced brilliantly for ParalympicsGB in Rio, pushing a squad of 264 outstanding athletes to scale greater heights with each passing day, until the tally of 120 medals in London four years ago was beaten out of sight.
Mission 121 was complete with two days to spare. Britain reached UK Sport’s medal target when Kare Adenegan, a 15-year-old from Coventry, won T34 800m bronze on Friday and the success did not stop there. By the time the closing ceremony began in front of a sellout crowd at the Maracan? on Sunday night, Britain were second in the standings with 147 medals.
There were 64 golds — making it their most successful Games since Seoul in 1988 — 39 silvers and 44 bronzes. Britain won medals across 15 of the 19 sports, golds in 11.
Hannah Cockroft helped herself to a hat-trick of titles in the Olympic Stadium. Bethany Firth was similarly dominant in the Aquatics Centre. Dame Sarah Storey, with her 14 golds, is the most decorated female British Paralympian of all time.
Jonnie Peacock easily defended his T11 100m title. Ellie Simmonds is the first SM6 swimmer to race below three minutes in the 200m medley. Will Bayley jumped on a table tennis table.
Kadeena Cox, another new face, became the first British Paralympian to top the podium in two different sports since 1984. The 25-year-old, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago, won cycling gold and athletics gold, silver and bronze. She was the flag-bearer for the closing ceremony.
Amid the praise is a caveat. Russia, banned by the International Paralympic Committee because of evidence of state-sponsored doping, were not here. It has been suggested their absence means UK Sport should have altered the medal target and there should be an asterisk next to Britain’s tally.
“I think it would have been entirely inappropriate to change the medal target a week before the Games,” Penny Briscoe, GB’s chef de mission, said. “We’ve crunched a lot of stats in the last few weeks because we knew this question would be asked. We’ve identified probably half a dozen medals across our sports where Russia came in as world No. 1. Of those we think potentially there might have been one where Russia would have won here.
“Of the others, and I use Kadeena as an example, the Russian was world leading in the 400m. Kadeena has broken the world record and beaten the Russian time from 2015 by nearly two seconds. What you have to put into context were the number of world records broken, the number of Paralympic records broken.”
Britain broke 29 world records and Tim Hollingsworth, the BPA’s chief executive, said resources were maximised. Although there has been heavy investment, it has been in the right areas.
“We have resources and the reason why you hear so frequently people thanking the National Lottery is because we rely on that resource. But I think the distinct point is structure,” he said. “If you take athletes and resources you don’t necessarily produce champions in the range of sports. Of the 11 sports that won gold medals, that’s the most ever apart from China in Beijing but they were at home in 2008. We’ve come away and done that.
“The range of sports in which we are competitive shows we have a structure that converts resources into success. We have a respect for what UK Sport wants to do. Invest strategically, take tough decisions, no compromises. We spent four years preparing for three weeks. But that four years is absolutely about being best prepared. There’s respect for roles. That hasn’t always been the case. Suddenly it sounds like hubris – but we’re second in the world in both the Olympics and the Paralympics. Something is right.”
There were 33 athletics medals, 21 in cycling and 15 in the pool. The rowers performed superbly. Canoeing and triathlon made their Paralympic debuts and Britain excelled in both, while the clean sweep in the women’s W1 archery event was their first in any event since 1996.
Hollingsworth is optimistic about the future. Ellie Robinson, who took up swimming after watching Simmonds in London, won S6 50m butterfly gold at the age of 15.
The youngest member of the team, 13-year-old Abby Kane, is a silver medallist. Jess Stretton celebrated collecting her GCSE results by winning archery gold. It was not just about the youngsters. Anne Dunham won equestrian silver at the age of 67, while Jo Frith clinched an archery gold at 55.
Talent identification programmes are crucial and UK Sport has launched a Discover Your Paralympic Potential scheme on its website. “It is a really good example that we can’t rest on our laurels,” Hollingsworth said. “We’ve got to find opportunities for the next generation to come through.”
The pleasant atmosphere and ease of travel in Rio was a major factor in the team’s relaxed mind-set.
Cajoled into action by the IPC after serious financial problems came to light, Rio 2016 organisers eventually sold 2.1mn tickets as locals embraced the Paralympic movement. London’s legacy endures.
On to Tokyo 2020, then.
“I’m not going to sit here and say we’ll beat Rio,” Hollingsworth said. “But I think people thought it was pretty optimistic to beat London.”