Historic homecoming of Paralympic Games begins

The eight-minute segment in followed the transfer of the Paralympic Flag to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. It continued the themes from the Olympic Handover segment, with the reappearance of the red London bus, young performers, innovative dance sequences, specially-composed music and iconic landmarks.

As the bus left the stadium it was transformed to carry the London 2012 Paralympic logo, accompanied by Ade Adepitan and ParalympicsGB medal winners David Weir, Shelly Woods, Eleanor Simmonds, David Roberts and the gold medal-winning Boccia team – Nigel Murray, Dan Bentley, Zoe Robinson and David Smith.

In 1948 Dr Ludwig Guttmann organised a sports competition for World War II soldiers with spinal cord injuries at Stoke Mandeville, at the same time as the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games.

Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee, said: ‘The Beijing Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony was spectacular and we are proud to have taken part in it and to present a snapshot of London and the UK to the world.

'Our segment was a statement of intent that our Games will be inspiring and fun, and get the whole world involved. We are proud to be the next summer Paralympic Host City.

'I congratulate Beijing for being superb hosts for both Games, to the Chinese team for topping the Paralympic medals table, and to ParalympicsGB for a stunning performance in coming second.’