Ellie Marks and Paul Schulte hold the Team USA flag during the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics at the Stade de France on Sunday.
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Paralympics wrapped up on Sundayend 11 hours-packed day of competition and heat from exciting athleticism in Paris.
And the result.
China exceeded two decades Paralympic winning streakdominate both overall the number of medals (220) and in the gold medal (94) for the sixth Summer Games in a row.
Great Britain finished second with a total of 124 medals, 49 gold. The U.S. is close with 105 medals, including 36 gold. The Netherlands and Brazil round out the top five.
Team USA competed in 20 sports (out of 22 included in this year’s Games) and achieved podiums in 16, according to organizers. Fifty-three American athletes won their first Paralympic medals, and 29 left Paris with more than one.
“We are very proud of Team USA and their outstanding performance at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games,” said Sarah HirshlandCEO of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. “That determination and grit inspires and inspires our proud nation and fans around the world, uniting us all through the power of sport.”
Team USA swept swimming and track
Gold medalist Hunter Woodhall of Team USA celebrates with his wife and fellow Olympian Tara Davis-Woodhall during the Men’s 400m T62 medal ceremony on Friday.
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The US got it most of its medals in Para track and field (38 total), followed by swimming (30). Also big wins in cycling (8), triathlon (8) and equestrian (7).
On the track, Tatyana McFadden earned her 21st medal to be most decorated US athlete in sports. Roderick Townsend completed a three-peat in T47 men’s high jump, taking the third consecutive gold in the event since 2016, when Ezra Fech won the first two gold medals in the second Games.
And half of it a couple of fan-favorite powerHunter-Woodhall won the gold in the men’s 400m T62 final, just a week after his wife, Tara Davis-Woodhall, won gold in the Olympic long jump.
In the pool, six-time paralympian Jessica Long won two medals to bring her career total to 31 (including 18 golds). That makes Long — who won his first medal at Athens 2004 at age 12 — the second most decorated American Paralympian of all time.
“I’m coming to the end of my career – I hope to end it in LA,” he said told Olympics.com.
Jessica Long of the USA reacts after placing first in the gold medal women’s 400 freestyle S8 final on Friday.
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Jackson Ranger/AP
The first Paralympic swimmer also made headlines and won a medal. Ali Truwit won two silver medals just a year after losing part of his leg in a shark attack, and Christie Raleigh Crossley won five medals – and set the world record in the 50 meter freestyle – even in the face of bullying from the owner doubt he was handicapped.
Raleigh Crossley tied with a swimming buddy Ellie Marcus for the most medals won by an American Paralympian in Paris.
Marks, a U.S. Army sergeant first class who now has nine career Paralympic medals — including Team USA’s first medal at the Paris Games — served as one of the flag bearers at Sunday’s closing ceremony.
The Americans continued their winning streak and got their first
US players pose with their gold medals after winning the men’s wheelchair basketball gold medal match at the 2024 Paralympics, Saturday.
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It’s a banner year for team sportswith Team USA winning repeat medals in many events.
ACE The triathlon team won eight medals, the best performance for the country in sports and the third year in a row the USA has placed first.
Team USA won its third straight title in men’s wheelchair basketball — the first country to ever do so — as well as women’s sitting volleyball.
The women’s wheelchair basketball team won silver for the first time in 32 years. The wheelchair rugby team also won a silver medal, reaching the podium for the seventh consecutive Games.
Four-time medalist Chuck Aoki cemented his status as the most decorated wheelchair rugby player in US history, when Sarah Adam is making history was the first American woman to win a Paralympic medal in the sport.
It is one of many firsts recorded for American athletes.
The duo of Miles Krajewski and Jayci Simon – both 19 years old – overcame the odds and some logistical hurdles to become the first US athletes medal in the sport of badminton in either the Paralympics or the Olympics.
Team USA’s Matt Stutzman competes in the men’s Para archery quarterfinals on September 1.
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Four-time Paralympian Matt Stutzman made history as the first armless archer wins Paralympic gold medal, in the open men’s individual compound.
Jeremy Campbell became the first Paralympian throw over 60 meters in the F64 discus (which won the discus gold medal for the fourth time), when Noelle Malkamaki became the first woman to throw more than 14 meters in the F46 shot (which won her a gold medal and broke her own world record). Liana Mutia became the first American woman to medal in Para judo-57 kg.
And multi-sport athlete Master Oksana repeated as champion in two individual Para cycling road race events, bringing a total of career medals to 19 in four different sports – rowing, cross-country skiing, biathlon and cycling – across both Winter and Summer Games.
Marriage proposal, first refugee team medal and other milestones
Taekwondo fighter Zakia Khudadadi of the Refugee Paralympic Team, originally from Afghanistan, celebrates after winning the women’s contest on August 29.
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The Paralympics are packed with incredible athletic achievements, powerful personal stories and other important milestones.
Athlete broke more than 40 world records less than two weeks, from the track and pool to the cycling arena and powerlifting bench.
Taekwondo athlete Zakia Khudadadi won The Refugee Paralympic Team’s first medaland sprinter Guillaume Junior Atangana won second in the men’s T11 400 meters. Each person dedicated their bronze medal to more than 120 million people around the world was forcibly removed from his home.
Some countries, like Eritrea, are represented at the Games for the first time. Others reached the medal podium for the first time, like Nepal, whose Palesha Goverdhan won bronze in taekwondo to give them their first Paralympic or Olympic medal.
In other firsts, England’s archers Jodie Grinham became the first to be known pregnant athlete to make it to the Paralympic podium. She won the women’s individual medley bronze and the medley team gold “despite having to take a break in time to reset my focus because of the baby’s kicking,” according to Olympics.com.
And among the many memorable moments outside the competition are many four marriage proposals for, by or between Paralympic athletes, the perfect motif for the “city of love.”
The initial numbers indicate that after a The highly watched Olympics in July, many viewers are kept up with the action through September: Two million tickets for the Paralympics were sold on the day of the opening ceremony, and the British broadcaster Channel 4 said in half, the number of streaming views doubled from that time in Tokyo 2020.
The next summer Olympics and Paralympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028.
Until then, we have the 2026 Winter Games in Italy to look forward to – as well as appearances by beloved US Olympians including rugby player Ilona Maher and gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik in the future of Dancing with the Stars.
