The Paralympic Games flame was lighted at a ceremony on the eve of the Games’ inauguration making them the first Summer Paralympics to be held during the host city’s wintertime.

The flame was lighted by five torches that were carried to Brasilia and four other cities in different regions of the host country Belen, Natal, Sao Paulo and Joinville and a sixth that came from the British city of Stoke Mandeville, cradle of the Paralympic movement.

President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Philip Craven said that for the athletes, the Games are not just the result of four years of training but are the result of an entire life of love and dedication to sports.The Paralympic Games will be held from September 7 to 18 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

About Paralympic Games:

The Paralympic Games is a major international multi-sport event involving athletes with a range of disabilities . On 29 July 1948, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games, Dr. Guttmann organised the first competition for wheelchair athletes which he named the Stoke Mandeville Games, a milestone in Paralympics history.

As part of a formal agreement between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee first established in 2001, the winner of the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics was also to host the 2016 Summer Paralympics