UK Paralympic team returns home with glory
19/9/2008 17:06
British most successful Paralympics team in two decades returned home
yesterday on a gold-nosed plane.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown met Great
Britain (GB) team members at Heathrow Airport.
Britain won 102 medals,
including 42 golds, in China to finish second in the medals table behind the
host nation.
GB chief Phil Lane hailed a "wonderful performance" but told
reporters at Heathrow he was looking forward to the future.
"This is one of
the top Paralympic performances we have had and will be a tough act to follow,
but we need to get the recruitment right," he said.
China topped the medal
table in Beijing, winning an astonishing 87 golds out of a total of 207, having
invested heavily in Paralympic sport and bolstering their squad.
Mr Lane
wanted to see a similar drive ahead of his term's home Paralympics.
Of the
206 British Paralympic athletes in Beijing, 80 won a medal and 30 won gold. Just
over half of the team were appearing at their first Paralympic
Games.
Xinhua
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