Paralympics: A Beautiful Ending

The 2008 Paralympics ended yesterday with quite literally a letter to the future. Amidst fireworks and many performers, the athletes who attended the Paralympic Games felt a strong sense of unity and accomplishment.

A very colorful envelope was displayed on the field, symbolizing how the actions taken at the 2008 Paralympics where helping to shape the World and a testament to the strength of character present in all of the athletes that competed at the games. Red leaves from Fragrant Hill, which is a well known park in Beijing, were showered onto the participants to symbolize all of the goodwill of the Chinese to the athletes that were participating.

In addition to the “Letter to the Future,” performers from London and China joined together in a performance that mimicked planting seeds in the stadium and then watering these seeds with a river of water that was made up of 100 women. The women flowed onto the field and symbolized the importance of the games.

To the pounding of very spirited music, acrobatic performers and dancers took the field and wrote the last chapter of a very powerful experience for the Chinese people and mobility challenged people all over the world.

With the conclusion of the games, China was the big medal winner with a total of 211 medals. Among China’s medals were 89 gold medals. Great Britain was next with 102 total medals and the United States was close on their heels with 99. The United States athletes brought home 36 Gold Medals.