The 182 Brazilian athletes who are going to the London 2012 Paralympic Games are aiming at finishing the competition in the seventh position, two places ahead of the ninth position achieved in Beijing 2008. One hundred and fifty-six members of the delegation are beneficiaries of the Ministry of Sport's Athlete Grant Programme - 85% of the total -, and will compete in 18 out of the 20 events that are part of the Paralympics. The Games will be staged between 29 August and 9 September.

The Athlete Grant Programme is the biggest direct athlete sponsorship programme in the world. Since 2005, 18 thousand grants have been awarded to Brazilian athletes, representing an investment of over R$ 284 million until 2012. The target audience are high performance athletes and disabled athletes, who have achieved good results in national and international competitions. The aim of the programme is to ensure that athletes are able to dedicate themselves exclusively, in a stress free training environment with and to take part in local, South American, Pan American, World, Olympic and Paralympic competitions.

Currently, there are five categories of the grant programme sponsored by the Ministry of Sport: base, student, national, international and Olympic/Paralympic. Soon, the podium category, which is also a new programme of the Ministry, will be put into practice. Designed to cater for elite athletes who have real chances of making it to the finals, winning titles and medals, the podium category will is aimed at athletes who are ranked in the top 20 positions in individual sports of the Olympic and Paralympic programme. Benefits may reach up to R$ 15 thousand monthly.

On the first day of competition, 30 August, Brazil has great chances of winning medals in judo and swimming. Multi-medallists Daniel Dias, André Brasil and Clodoalvo Silva hit the pools with the finals scheduled for the evening.  On the same day the country will also make its debut in the equestrian, table tennis, male and female goalball events. In all, it will be 10 days of competition in several spots of London.

Brazil in the Paralympics
The first time Brazil took part in the Paralympic Games was in the Heidelberg edition in 1972. However, the first medals did not come until 1976 in Toronto Canada: silver in lawn bowls, won by Luiz Carlos da Costa and Robson Sampaio de Almeida. The country finished in the 31st position in that competition.

Brazil?s best result was in Beijing 2008, when they won 47 medals (16 gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze) and finished ninth.

Biggest medallists
The biggest Brazilian medallist in Paralympics is swimmer Clodoaldo Silva, with 6 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze. Swimmer Daniel Dias is the Brazilian athlete with the highest number of medals in the same edition of the Games: 4 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze in the Beijing Games in 2008.

Runner Ádria dos Santos was the one who won the most medals among the women: 4 gold, 8 silver and 1 bronze.  

Sports in London
Twenty sport events will be contested in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. They are: athletics; wheelchair basketball; bowls; cycling; fencing; 5-a-side football; 7-a-side football; goalball; weight lifting; equestrian; judo; swimming; rowing; rugby (Brazil will not take part in this sport); wheelchair tennis; table tennis; shooting; archery (Brazil will not take part in this event); sailing; and sitting volleyball.