Vancouver 2010: A look back

Alexi Salamone was just 22 years old when he won his first Paralympic gold medal with the USA's ice sledge hockey team at the Vancouver 2010 Games. © • Getty Images Germany's Verena Bentele and her guide Thomas Friedrich won the gold medal during the women's 12.5km visually impaired biathlon at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. © • Getty Images Russia's Irek Zaripov won the gold medal during the men's 10km sitting cross country at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. © • Getty Images

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The Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games ticket sales reached an all-time high of 230,000.

Thursday (21 March) marks exactly three years to the day that the last Paralympic Winter Games came to a close in Vancouver.

To honour the third anniversary of the Vancouver 2010 Games, here is a quick glance back:

By the numbers

Countries: 44

Athletes: 502

Medal events: 64

Sports: 5

Spectators: 230,000

Cumulated TV audience: 1.6 billion

Volunteers: 6,100

Top five medal count

1. Germany – 24 (13 gold, 5 silver, 6 bronze)

2. Russia – 38 (12 gold, 16 silver, 10 bronze)

3. Canada – 19 (10 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze)

4. Slovakia – 11 (6 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze)

5. Ukraine – 19 (5 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze)

Top performances

Verena Bentele (Germany, nordic skiing): The visually impaired skier won five gold medals in what would be her final Paralympic Winter Games, including two in biathlon and three in cross-country skiing.

Gerd Schoenfelder (Germany, alpine skiing): The standing skier claimed four golds and a silver on the slopes, moving his overall Paralympic medal total to 22.

Lauren Woolstencroft (Canada, alpine skiing): The host nation’s top alpine skier won five gold medals in the women’s standing competition.

Irek Zaripov (Russia, nordic skiing): The Russian left Vancouver with four golds – two in cross-country skiing and two in biathlon – as well as a silver in cross-country.

Brian McKeever (Canada, nordic skiing): Easily one of Canada’s faces of the Games, McKeever won gold in three different cross-country events in the men’s visually impaired class and is on par to do the same at Sochi 2014.

USA ice sledge hockey team: Behind top play from Steve Cash and Taylor Chace, the Americans claimed Paralympic gold after going undefeated in Vancouver and defeating Japan in the gold-medal game.

Canada wheelchair curling team: The home team finished pool play with a 7-2 record and then went on to beat Korea 8-7 in the gold-medal match.