China turned out a great surprise in the 12-day-long 12th
Paralympic Games which closed on Tuesday, topping the gold medal
tally with 63.
China, the sixth of the gold medal table at the Sydney Games,
emerged as the dominating force in Athens with a total gain of 141
medals, 63 of them gold medals, one more than the total golds of
the second and the third placers.
Britain came second with 93 medals (35 golds), while the United
States finished third with 88 medals (27 golds), followed by
Canada, Australia and Ukraine.
Australia, the host of the Sydney Games, dropped from the
leading position with 149 medals (63 golds) four years ago to the
fifth with 99 medals (26 golds).
The Athens Games, featuring 136 delegations and 3,800
participating athletes with disabilities, was the largest in the
44-year-long Paralympic history.
It is the first time that the Paralympic Games, the
second-largest sports event in the world after Olympic Games, is
held in Greece, the home of Olympic movement and cradle of western
civilization.
It is also the first time that Summer Olympic Games and Summer
Paralympic Games were organized by a same organizing committee.
A total of 526 events of 19 sports took place in the meet from
September 17-28, with 5-side football, women's judo, women's
sitting volleyball and cycling first featured.
The entertainment part of the closing ceremony was canceled
except the eight-minute performance of the Chinese handicapped
artists due to a car accident which killed at least seven students
on Monday morning.
The next Summer Paralympic Games will be held in Beijing in
2008.
(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2004)
