Closing Ceremony

Paralympic venues

Called 'Festival of the Flame', the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games celebrates the exuberance of festivals and the changing of the seasons. British band Coldplay, one of the world's bestsellling music acts, lead the evening's celebrations with a live concert.

Coldplay have been working with Artistic Director Kim Gavin and Coldplay’s live show co-designer and Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony designer Misty Buckley to play a set of their most iconic music alongside a cast of almost 2,000 in the Olympic Stadium. The Closing Ceremony celebrates the achievements of the 4,200 athletes at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and includes a Handover to Rio 2016 and the extinguishing of the Paralympic Flame, signalling the end of the Games.

Get the behind-the-scenes information in the Closing Ceremony Tumblr blog

Voice of the Games ›

8:00

The first events of that final day of London 2012, the men's Marathon T-12 and T-46 races, are under way. Henry Waynyoike from Kenya in action in the T-12 class, along with the world record holder Alberto Suarez Laso from Spain.

In the T46 race, defending champion Mexico's Mario Santillan Hernandez is up against Spain's Abderrahman Ait Khamouch.

8:14

Once the runners in the T12 and T46 classes have finished, the T54 athletes have their chance to race the four loops through central London. The men start at 11:30 and the women a couple of minutes later at 11:32.

8:25

In the T-12 Marathon, Spain's Alberto Suarez Laso has gone through the first 5km check point in 17:24, closely followed by Nacer-Eddine Karfas from Algeria and Masahiro Okamura of Japan.

Also with the lead group in the T-12, is T46 runner Zhang Lei from China.

8:33

Check out where the Marathon route goes with our interactive course map.

8:44

It's been a great 11 days of Paralympic sport, so it's only right that it needs an appropriate send off! Lots of people are already getting really excited about tonight's Closing Ceremony, including the performers. Coldplay tweeted this just a few minutes ago: