The Organising Committee of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games held a press conference in London this Friday (07.09) to celebrate the fact that there are only four years to go to the Paralympics in Rio. In addition, details of the handing over of the Paralympic flag were given, which will take place in the closing ceremony of the London Games.

The Rio Paralympics will be staged between the 7th and 18th September 2016, with 4,200 athletes from 150 countries. With the inclusion of canoeing and triathlon, there will be 22 sports at the next Games. Furthermore, 5,500 journalists are expected, as well as two million spectators and 30,000 volunteers.

During the event this Friday, several aspects of Brazil were presented to journalists, such as cultural diversity, the happiness of the Brazilian people and the country's natural beauty. The general director of the Rio 2016 Committee Leonardo Gryner, pointed out the challenge the country has in relation to staging the event and explained the campaign that will be developed for publicising accessibility. "All of us need accessibility, in different parts and moments of our lives. And this is the mindset we have to pass onto the population during the Rio Games", he said.

Gryner explained that Rio de Janeiro will be ready to receive athletes and fans with disabilities: "All facilities will be accessible during the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, like the metro, buses, airport, streets and traffic lights for the visually impaired".

Government support
The President of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) Andrew Parsons, emphasised the support parasports has been receiving from several partners, particularly from the federal government. "We have been relying on several types of support for our preparation, particularly from public resources", he said. Parsons also praised the Viver Sem Limites (Living Without Limits) Programme, from the Secretariat of Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic. "There are several government initiatives aimed at social inclusion and access to the labour market for people living with disabilities."

The Living Without Limits Programme - National Plan of the Rights of People Living with Disabilities -, aims at implementing new initiatives and intensifying interventions that are currently developed by the federal government for the benefit of people living with disabilities. The aim is to improve access to basic rights, such as education, transport, labour market, professional training, housing and health.


Music and dance
Brazil will have eight minutes to put on a performance during the closing ceremony of the London Paralympic Games and has invited Brazilian music stars and dance groups to take part.

Among these celebrities, Herbert Vianna and Paralamas do Sucesso will take part, as well as Carlinhos Brown and Thalma de Freitas, who will perform together with dance groups on the stage of the Olympic Stadium.  Indeed, two Brazilian ballet dancers stand out, as they are part of the Royal Ballet: Thiago Soares and Roberta Marquez.

The Funk do Passinho dance group will start the performance and other acts will join them on stage, in a mix of rhythms that will bring together dancers, as well as dancers with disabilities.

Thiago Soares and Roberta Marquez will perform with the visually impaired ballet dancers of the Fernanda Bianchini Association of Ballet and Arts for the Blind. The Dança sobre Rodas Corpo em Movimento group will divide the stage with the Companhia Folclórica do Rio group - UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro).

Paralympic athletes Ádria dos Santos and Daniel Dias will come up on stage to close the Brazilian participation. The artistic direction is again under the charge of Cao Hamburger and Daniela Thomas, with creative supervision from Abel Gomes and executive production by Marco Balich, who also created and developed the segment for the handover of the Olympic flag.