Great Britain was second, following on from the country’s good medal performance at the Beijing Olympics and the USA was third.

Position Country Gold Silver Bronze Total

1 China 89 70 52 211
2 Great Britain 42 29 31 102
3 United States 36 35 28 99
4 Ukraine 24 18 32 74
5 Australia 23 29 27 79
6 South Africa 21 3 6 30
7 Canada 19 10 21 50
8 Russia 18 23 22 63
10 Brazil 16 14 17 47
9 Spain 15 21 22 58
11 Germany 14 25 20 59
12 France 12 21 19 52
13 South Korea 10 8 13 31
15 Mexico 10 3 7 20
14 Tunisia 9 9 3 21
16 Czech Republic 6 3 18 27
18 Japan 5 14 8 27
17 Poland 5 12 13 30
19 Netherlands 5 10 7 22
20 Greece 5 9 10 24
21 Belarus 5 7 1 13
22 Iran 5 6 3 14
23 Cuba 5 3 6 14
24 New Zealand 5 3 4 12
24 Sweden 5 3 4 12
27 Hong Kong 5 3 3 11
26 Kenya 5 3 1 9
28 Italy 4 7 7 18
29 Egypt 4 4 4 12
30 Nigeria 4 4 1 9
31 Algeria 4 3 8 15
32 Morocco 4 1 2 7
34 Austria 4 1 1 6
39 Switzerland 3 2 6 11
33 Denmark 3 2 4 9
34 Ireland 3 1 1 5
36 Croatia 3 1 0 4
37 Azerbaijan 2 3 5 10
38 Slovakia 2 3 1 6
40 Finland 2 2 2 6
41 Thailand 1 5 7 13
42 Portugal 1 4 2 7
43 Norway 1 3 3 7
44 Cyprus 1 2 1 4
45 Latvia 1 2 0 3
46 Singapore 1 1 2 4
46 Venezuela 1 1 2 4
48 Saudi Arabia 1 1 0 2
49 Hungary 1 0 5 6
50 Chinese Taipei 1 0 1 2
50 Turkey 1 0 1 2
52 Mongolia 1 0 0 1
53 Israel 0 5 1 6
54 Angola 0 3 0 3
55 Jordan 0 2 2 4
56 Lithuania 0 2 0 2
56 Serbia 0 2 0 2
58 Argentina 0 1 5 6
59 Slovenia 0 1 2 3
60 Bulgaria 0 1 1 2
68 Colombia 0 1 1 2
60 Iraq 0 1 1 2
62 Bosnia-Hercegovina 0 1 0 1
62 Pakistan 0 1 0 1
62 Papua New Guinea 0 1 0 1
62 Romania 0 1 0 1
62 United Arab Emirates 0 1 0 1
67 Lebanon 0 0 2 2
68 Belgium 0 0 1 1
68 Estonia 0 0 1 1
68 Jamaica 0 0 1 1
68 Lao PDR 0 0 1 1
68 Malaysia 0 0 1 1
68 Namibia 0 0 1 1
68 Puerto Rico 0 0 1 1
68 Syria 0 0 1 1

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There has never been a Paralympics that has not been hailed the best ever.

The first time I heard the phrase delivered “live” in the stadium was at Atlanta, which was almost certainly the worst ever.
On Wednesday evening in Beijing, President of the International Paralympic Committee Sir Phillip Craven did not let me down, delivering the mantra word for word.
So how does it stand up to the claim?
Let us do the pluses first, and there are plenty of them.
My own personal abiding memory of the Beijing games, the fourth I have attended, was the crowds.
Disabled athletes over the years have been used to performing at most of their meets to sparse crowds made of friends, family and other team members.
Even at the best of the games - Sydney - there was still an element of “rent-a-crowd” about the attendances.
Many of the audiences were almost entirely made up of children, allocated tickets en bloc as an educational exercise.
They were reminiscent of those schoolboy and schoolgirl hockey internationals that used to be staged at Wembley, where the pitch and decibel level of the cheering were excruciating.
Nothing like that in Beijing but many of the events were total, or almost total, sell-outs.
The Bird’s Nest stadium several times had its full complement of 91,000 spectators. The swimming events were full every night. Great attendances too at the basketball.
And when GB quadriplegic wheelchair tennis star Peter Norfolk was winning his gold in the singles, there were more people watching him than turned up to see Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the Olympics.
Perhaps people were benefiting from the fact that the Paralympic tickets were considerably cheaper than at the Olympics, and also yielding to a huge curiosity to get inside stadiums like the Bird’s Nest?
Another major plus was access. I am guided by the athletes here. I talked to many of them, and they all said the same - that facilities in the village, the stadiums and around the Olympic complex were second to none.
Libby Kosmala, a Paralympian attending her 11th games, said she thought that Beijing’s access was “faultless”.

Avoidable glitches
Now for a couple of minuses. These reflect as much on the nature of the games themselves, and their management by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), as they do on Beijing.
There were a number of foul-ups in the running of events trackside and poolside.
It has been hard to get to the bottom of what led to them, but they need to be sorted if the Paralympics is to take its place as a major sporting event.
For instance, two events were ordered to be re-run. One actually took place, the other re-run was cancelled after the objection was withdrawn.
But the re-run is an odd concept in all but the most extreme cases. To be honest, it smacks of patronising attitudes. Olympic gold medallist Steve Cram said he could not remember a re-run ever being ordered.
In one case a re-run was deemed necessary because of a crash, which led to a disqualification.
The disqualification was fair enough, but ordering a re-run because someone screws up smacks too much of the sports day “oh give them another go” attitude, which has no place in the Paralympics.
The other was caused by an administrative error, a wrong lane allocation. The protest about that should have happened before the race was ever run.
Both of these re-run decisions were reached after the medal ceremonies had taken place - so that athletes who had publicly been cheered suddenly found themselves deprived of that medal.
Whether it was miscommunication between the IPC and local organisers is not clear.
What is clear is that in terms of rigorous organisation, these games must look as professional as the Olympic counterparts they seek to be compared to.
Which leads me to the other matter that must be sorted out before London 2012 - classification.

A job well done
There has to be classification in Paralympic sport. The principle of grading people on the basis of their severity of disability, so that like competes with like, is essential. But classification must be managed better.
In these games, there were a number of examples of people being thrown out of events because they were felt to be less disabled than their classification allowed.
Clearly, if there is a blatant example of cheating, it must be dealt with. But the answer to that is not expulsion during the games, but a proper, independent and transparent programme of classification before the games ever begin.
If a competitor performs above the level which appears to be consistent with their disability, it should be dealt with after the games.
We cannot have a situation where doing particularly well, is regarded as a reason for re-classification within the games.
Classification is confusing enough for spectators, and I think in London there should be more attempts to explain it to crowds.
What happened here is likely to lower the reputation of the games, which on the whole is rising exponentially.
The Beijing games have done plenty to continue that process, and they should be congratulated on that.
They should also be congratulated on changes to the environment which will provide a permanent legacy for disabled Beijingers for the future.
It seems impossible to think that the exposure of huge numbers of people to disabled athletes performing extraordinary feats would not change the perception of disability in China.
Though whether change will be sustained at the rate achieved by the needs of staging the Paralympics remains to be seen.
Was it the best ever? It is a subjective judgment, but I would say yes. I would put it on a par with Sydney, but with the added dimension of genuine, deeply enthusiastic crowds. Well done, Beijing!

source: bbc.co.uk

from: chinadaily.com.cn

Host nation China pulled away from its rivals at the Beijing Paralympics Friday as its medal tally soared over 100.
China has now won more medals in just over five days of competition than it did during the whole of last month’s Olympics, when it won exactly 100.
The Paralympic haul is made up of 34 golds, 40 silvers and 27 bronze. Second-placed Britain has 29 golds and an overall total of 61.
More than 4,000 competitors from nearly 150 countries and regions are battling for 472 gold medals in 20 sports at the eye-catching venues used for last month’s Olympics, such as the “Bird’s Nest” and the Water Cube.
China’s Olympic tally of 100 medals included 51 golds, meaning it finished atop the table ahead of the United States, with 36 golds.
The sports at the Paralympics, which end on September 17, include athletics, swimming, powerlifting, wheelchair fencing and five-a-side and seven-a-side football, as well as the lesser-known goalball and boccia.

source: thenews.com.pk

The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) and the International Paralympic Committee today announced that Iran have pulled out of competition “due to their dissatisfaction with the draw proposed for the cross-over round and subsequent schedule”.

There is conjecture that this in in reference to the possibility of Iran playing Israel if they got through to the next round.

Iran was due to play the USA today.

In a statement the IWBF said it “regrets this decision taken by Iran and the disruption caused to the tournament”.

The move means the US teams goes through to the semi-finals. The ABC has been unable to contact the Iranian team.

The spokeswoman for the United States Paralymic team Jeannine Hansen would not be drawn on whether the Iranian team was making a political statement.

“The team is focused on playing and looking forward to Canada,” she said.

“But beyond that I’m not going to comment. Iran really needs to speak for their reasons for withdrawing.”

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source: abc.net.au

Du Toit, who lost a leg in a 2001 motorcycle crash, finished in 4 minutes, 43.81 seconds — 0.15 better than the mark she set three years ago in London.

One of two athletes in the Paralympics who also competed at the Beijing Olympics, Du Toit has set three disability group records in winning four golds. She also set records in the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley. Her other gold came in the 100 freestyle, where she already holds the record.

She will wrap up her Paralympic program Sunday in the 50 freestyle, where she also holds the disability group record.

Du Toit won five golds and a silver at the Athens Paralympics, but chose to compete in only five events in Beijing. She said she could have done even better Friday.

“I had a really bad turn and had to stop and start again, which wasted a lot of energy,” she said. “I didn’t think I would do a best time.”

Du Toit finished 16th at the Beijing Olympics in the 10-kilometer open-water swim. A promising Olympian until her injury, she’s hoping to qualify for the 2012 London Games.

Fifty-four medals were up for grabs Friday. In the major disciplines, there were 16 in swimming, 15 in cycling and 18 in track and field. Spain won three golds in swimming to lead all countries.

Britain dominated cycling with four gold medals and six overall. The United States won seven medals in cycling, including three gold. Spain also managed three gold medals in cycling and six overall.

In track, sprinter Oscar Pistorius is expected to win the 200 on Saturday, adding to the gold he won earlier in the week in the 100.

In the medal standings, China leads with 37 gold and 109 overall. Britain has 33 gold and 69 overall, followed by the United States with 23 and 56 overall.

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from: ap.google.com

The NHL team announced Thursday that it will retire Roy’s jersey No. 33 at a Bell Centre ceremony before a game against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 22.

BEIJING - Canada’s Michelle Stilwell captured her second Paralympic Games gold medal Thursday, but her first as a wheelchair racer.

Stilwell, from Nanoose Bay, B.C., a gold medallist in wheelchair basketball in 2000 in Sydney, raced to gold in the 200-metre T52 classification race in a Paralympic record time of 36.18 seconds.

MILAN, Italy - Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa resume their tight title chase at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, the last European race of the Formula One season.

Hamilton’s lead over Massa in the overall standings dwindled to two points after a time penalty cost the McLaren driver a dramatic victory at the Belgian GP last weekend.

SUANCES, Spain - Italian rider Paolo Bettini won the 12th stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Thursday while Egoi Martinez of Spain retained the overall lead.

Bettini, a Quick Step rider who also won the sixth stage, completed the 186 kilometre trek from Burgos to Suances with two major mountain climbs in four hours 42 minutes 44 seconds.

CONOVER, N.C. - Jay Haas has a chance to widen his lead over Bernhard Langer in the Charles Schwab Cup standings with a good finish in the Greater Hickory Classic.

The Champions Tour event begins Friday at Rock Barn Golf and Spa’s Robert Trent Jones course and features five of the top 10 players in the standings.

ROLLA, Mo. - Canadian Michael Barry pulled away from a group of four riders to win the fourth stage of the Tour of Missouri on Thursday while Christian Vande Velde maintained his overall lead.

Barry, riding for Team Columbia, emerged alone approaching the three 2.1-mile finishing circuits. The Toronto native completed the 152.95-kilometre race from Lebanon to Rolla with a 46-second margin in three hours, 16 minutes, three seconds.

The new leader of USA Track and Field analyzed the team’s underwhelming performance at the Beijing Olympics - including dropped batons and a record-low men’s gold medal count - and judged the federation’s overall performance to be “seriously deficient.” After watching both U.S. relay teams drop the baton in the 400-metre preliminaries and seeing the U.S. men win only four gold medals, CEO Doug Logan has decided to form a panel of former athletes and coaches to analyze USATF’s high performance programs. “This will probably be an uncomfortable exercise,” Logan wrote Tuesday in his blog on the USATF website. “But, this is not a ‘knee jerk’ reaction, or a ‘witch hunt,’ or an attempt to castigate anyone. Indeed, this panel may determine that the factors leading to less-than-optimal performance were beyond anyone’s control.”

The Americans took home 23 medals from Beijing - most of any country - but the results were still disappointing on many levels.

Everyone is chasing Usain Bolt.

The world’s fastest man is in high demand, the latest invitations coming from David Letterman and the Real Madrid soccer team.

STUTTGART, Germany - Asafa Powell will get another shot at regaining the world record in the 100 metres at the World Athletics Final this weekend.

After five races in eight days, however, Powell may not have enough left to challenge his Jamaican countryman Usain Bolt’s 9.69-second mark set at the Beijing Olympics.

BEIJING - For 14 years Steven Daniel viewed life through a soldier’s eyes.

The Sudbury, Ont., native sees things a lot differently since a parachuting accident left him in a wheelchair and rearranged his priorities.

BEIJING - Canadian swimmer Stephanie Dixon won her second medal at the Paralympic Games on Thursday, finishing runner-up to Natalie du Toit in the SM9 200 metres.

The Victoria resident finished more than nine seconds behind the South African swimming machine who picked up her third gold of the Paralympics after competing at the Olympic Games.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Orlando Magic forward Pat Garrity is retiring from the NBA.

Garrity played 10 pro seasons - nine with the Magic - after spending his rookie year with the Phoenix Suns. He appeared in 513 games for Orlando, second most in franchise history.

LONDON - Manchester United is expected to unveil its new strike force of Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney this weekend, and it couldn’t come at a better time for the defending champions as they travel to fierce rival Liverpool.

Liverpool, which plays United on Saturday (7:45 a.m. ET), is level on points with early leader Chelsea, which is at Manchester City in another of the day’s eight matches.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Stefan Schumacher of Germany has joined the Quick Step team of world champion Paolo Bettini and sprint ace Tom Boonen, the team said Thursday.

Schumacher finished third in last year’s world championship and won two stages in the Tour de France this year. He is an expert time-trial rider and has good climbing abilities that serve him well in the hilly, one-day classics.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - The Swedish wrestler stripped of his bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics for protesting during the medal ceremony filed an appeal Thursday with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Ara Abrahamian, who was disqualified from the games after the protest, asked the top court in international sports to downgrade his punishment to a warning. CAS said it would rule within four months.

CHICAGO - The Toronto Bue Jays’ 10-game winning streak came to an end Wednesday thanks to Chicago White Sox veterans Mark Buehrle and A.J. Pierzynski.

Buehrle outpitched Toronto’s Roy Halladay and Pierzynski had three RBIs against the Blue Jays ace as the White Sox won 6-5 to stay one game ahead of Minnesota in the AL Central. “I’ve never had a loss that wasn’t frustrating,” said Halladay, who’d won five in a row. He lasted six innings, giving up nine hits and five runs.

BEIJING - A pair of powerlifters caught using banned substances Thursday increased to four the number of athletes found guilty of doping violations at the Paralympic Games.

Fracourou Sissoko of Mali and Liudmyla Osmanova of Ukraine both failed drug tests, the International Paralympic Committee said in a release.

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from: ckwstv.com

from: afp.google.com