The 13-day Tokyo Paralympics -- held amid the novel coronavirus crisis and a state of emergency -- wrapped up successfully Sunday, and the baton was passed to Paris for the 2024 staging.
"Tonight this is not just a closing ceremony, but an opening to a bright and inclusive future," International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said during his speech at Sunday's closing ceremony at National Stadium in Tokyo. Subsequently, the Paralympic flame was extinguished, ending the first-ever Paralympics in history that had been postponed by a year.
A total of 539 events in 22 sports were held, and 254 Japanese athletes, the largest group from the country, participated in all of the sports.
Events were held without spectators at all 21 venues in principle due to measures against spreading the novel coronavirus. Some competitions were held with elementary and junior high school students who watched them as part of a field trip program.
The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games on Sunday announced four new novel coronavirus cases among Paralympic staff members.
The committee began releasing the number of cases among people involved in the Tokyo Games on July 1. Since then, there have been a total of 848 cases -- 547 people involved in the Olympics and 301 in the Paralympics. Of them, 41 were cases among athletes -- 28 in the Olympics and 13 in the Paralympics.
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