SPORTS
The Games featured five sports across Sochi’s Coastal and Mountain Clusters,
including alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice sledge hockey and
wheelchair curling. Snowboard made its Paralympic Winter Games debut as
a discipline under IPC Alpine Skiing.
TORCH RELAY
The Paralympic Torch Relay passed through all eight of Russia's Federal Districts. From 26 February – 7 March 2013, more than 1,000 torchbearers carried the Paralympic Torch through at least 50 Russian regions.
OPENING CEREMONY
A stunning Opening Ceremony at Fisht Stadium included a volunteer cast of more than 2,500 people from the Krasnodar region of Russia taking centre stage. Two-time Paralympic champion swimmer Olesya Vladykina and six-time Paralympic champion cross-country skier Sergey Shilov lit the Paralympic cauldron. With a theme of “Breaking The Ice,” the Opening Ceremony evoked the spirit of Russia and the importance of breaking down barriers and stereotypes faced by people around the world every day.
CLOSING CEREMONY
Through the theme of “Reaching the Impossible,” the Closing Ceremony illuminated how dreams can be achieved through strength and passion to change the perception of “impossible” to “I’m possible.”