Paralympics in Tokyo: Brazil ends its best campaign with 72 medals

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil ended its participation in the Tokyo Paralympics this Sunday with the country’s best performance in the history of the Games. There were 72 medals in total, equaling the record obtained in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, but with a much higher number of golds.

The 22 gold medals won in Japan surpassed the 21 brought home from London in 2012, until then the best Brazilian record.

In the Japanese capital, Brazil also won 20 silver and 30 bronze. It ended in seventh place in the medals table – the same position as in 2012. In Rio, Brazil won 14 golds, 29 silvers, and 29 bronzes, in eighth place.

On Saturday night, in Brasília time, Alex Douglas Pires was the silver medalist in the T46 marathon (for athletes with upper limb disabilities). He finished the race behind China’s Chaoyan Li.

Li broke the Paralympic record with a time of 2h25min50. The Brazilian completed the race with the South American record in the class in 2h27min00s. The bronze medal went to Japan’s Tsutomu Nagata, with a time of 2h29min33s.

After the race, Alex said his strategy was to stay as close as possible to the leading group. After the 30 km mark, he increased his pace and managed to pass the third and fourth place contestants.

“I ended up doing my race and started to increase the pace in the middle of the race. The strategy worked out, and I was happy,” celebrated the Brazilian.

At the finish, Alex gestured with open arms running in zigzag on the Tokyo Olympic Stadium track, a similar gesture inspired by Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima’s bronze medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004. After winning silver, the Brazilian commented on the inspiration for the celebration.

“I imagined repeating the gesture just at that moment when I remembered Vanderlei’s arrival in the Athens marathon. I had thought of other things, but at the time, I didn’t remember and decided to honor him this way”, he explained.

Born in Sapiranga (RS), the 31-year-old has a shortened left arm and has been in Paralympic athletics since 2007. After medals in world championships, he has now won his first Paralympic one.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Vitor Tavares finished the Brazilian campaign in the badminton bronze medal match, but was defeated by Britain’s Krysten Coombs, 2 sets to 1, and lost the medal. He was the only representative from Brazil in the sport’s debut in the Games.

At 8 AM Brasília time, the closing ceremony closed the Tokyo chapter of the Paralympic Games.