Ten years since Rio 2016: Paralympic legacy goes beyond the field of play

As Brazil marks 10 years since the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, the celebration extends far beyond athletic feats and record-breaking moments. A decade later, the Games’ legacy can be seen across the country, creating more opportunities for Para athletes and persons with disabilities.

Rio 2016 was historic in so many ways. It marked the first time the world’s biggest sporting event for Para athletes was held in South America. More than 4,300 athletes put on an incredible show during the 12 days of competition, in front of 2.1 million spectators and a record television audience.

Six National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) - Aruba, Congo, Malawi, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia and Togo - made their debut at the Games, while Para canoe and Para triathlon featured on the Paralympic programme for the first time.

Across 22 sports, athletes broke 220 world and 432 Paralympic records.

 

For Brazilian Paralympians, Rio 2016 was a long-awaited opportunity to compete and celebrate their achievements with a passionate home crowd, and witness the lasting legacy the Games would leave behind.

“Talking about the Rio 2016 Games, I was competing at home. I was in my own backyard, so to speak,” said 14-time Paralympic swimming champion Daniel Dias.

“For Rio, we trained for this, for it to happen. It’s difficult to put into words everything we experienced, all the emotions we felt. 

“Competing at the Rio Games was the fulfillment of a dream.”

 

Change Starts with Sport

Held from 7-18 September 2016, the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games brought together 4,328 Para athletes who competed in 528 medal events across 22 sports.

The Games accelerated the development of Para sport across Brazil and Latin America, while also helping to improve accessibility, strengthen grassroots programmes and place disability inclusion firmly in the public conversation.

“There is a before and an after Rio 2016 for persons with disabilities and Paralympic sport in the country,” said International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons, who served as the president of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee between 2009 and 2017.

“I felt really proud to have helped such a transformational event, and it really transformed the way persons with disabilities were seen in Brazil, and also the reality because there was a lot of legacy from these Games.”

 

Building a home for Para athletes

One of the biggest legacies of Rio 2016 supports Para athletes every day.

The Brazilian Paralympic Training Centre in Sao Paulo was inaugurated on 23 May 2016 and has served as the country’s high-performance training base for more than a decade.

 

Covering 95,000 square metres, the fully accessible facility is equipped to support athletes from across all Para sports. It features outdoor and indoor athletic tracks, swimming pools, blind football pitches, wheelchair tennis courts, and the list goes on.

The are also accommodation facilities for athletes, allowing them to focus on training and recovery.

“The facilities we have here today at the Paralympic Centre are everything and athlete needs: nutrition, training, when we need to recover we have the whole medical and physiotherapy side,” said Para powerlifter Mariana D’Andrea, who made her Paralympic debut in Rio.

“This is a wonderful place. It’s the perfect place, and it’s the structure every athlete needs.”

 

More investment  

While top-class facilities provide athletes with the training environment, long-term investment also proved important in Brazil’s Para sport development.

Ahead of the Games, a national law passed in 2015 increased the share of investment from federal lotteries directed toward sport, including the Paralympic Movement in Brazil.

IPC President Parsons says the legislation helped the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Brazil create long-term strategies and plans.

“This is fundamental in sport, not to plan the next month or the next six months, but the next cycle, or two cycles ahead,” Parsons said.

“It really helps to grow the different sports and create different programmes, from grassroots to elite, and even retirement programmes for Paralympic athletes in Brazil.”

More investment into sport and top-class facilities in Brazil helped grow the sport even more, helping Para sport continue to reach new heights in the country.

 

 

Inspiring a new generation of Para athletes

For Parsons, one of the largest legacies of the Games is how it inspired younger generation to take up Para sport, helping Brazil become one of the leading nations in the Paralympic Movement.  

Many young Brazilian Para athletes took up sports after watching Paralympians from around the world pull off incredible athletic performances on the biggest stage.  

In less than a decade, Brazil climbed from eighth place in the overall medals table at Rio 2016 to fifth place at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, where its athletes won 25 gold medals.  

 

Among the stars was Para swimmer Gabriel Araujo, known in Brazil as Gabrielzinho, who captured three gold medals in Paris.   

“I don’t have any doubt that new athletes coming to the Paralympic Movement in Brazil is a direct result of Rio 2016,” Parsons said.  

“When you see someone like Gabrielzinho, who just won the 2026 Laureus Sports Award, the Oscars of sport, that’s a direct result of Rio in the sense of awareness. (Rio 2016) was also a turning point in Brazilian history because of more money, more conditions, and better infrastructure to be made available to the Paralympic athletes.” 

 

 

Making Rio more accessible 

The legacy of Rio 2016 also extends beyond sport and into everyday life.  

In the years leading up to the Games, accessibility became part of a much bigger conversation. Significant investments were made in public transport and infrastructure to help more people move independently around Rio de Janeiro.  

New metro, tram and bus lines were introduced, particularly linking the rapidly growing Barra da Tijuca region with other parts of the city. Improvements also included creating accessible pavements, ramps and tactile flooring.  

“The Rio 2016 Games were a catalyst for change for the city of Rio,” said Mariana Melo, who served as Paralympic Integration Manager of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee. 

“I believe that this accessible transport is a legacy of the Paralympic Games. It was a need of the Paralympic Games, it was a requirement of the International Paralympic Committee and that’s why today we have even more accessible transportation.” 

Melo also added that the number of accessible hotel rooms in Rio doubled as a direct result of the Games. At the same time, efforts were made to improve accessibility at major tourist attractions, creating greater opportunities for both residents and visitors with disabilities to enjoy the city. 

 

Changing perceptions 

A decade later, Brazilian athletes and officials look back at how the Games helped change people’s perceptions toward persons with disabilities.  

Ciro Winckler, who worked as a technical co-ordinator for NPC Brazil, recalls how children without disabilities looked up to Paralympians as their role models.  
“I think this is a very big turning point,” he said.  

“We had more and more implementation of public policies, actions that made it possible for Brazilian Paralympic sport to reach more environments in Brazil,” Ciro added.  

“We have to remember that Brazil is a continental country and Paralympic sport is reaching all these places.” 

 

NPC Brazil President Jose Antonio Freire said, “The Rio 2016 Games helped enormously because they reached a huge number of people, both at the venues and watching on television. 

“That raises awareness and helps society understand that people with disabilities deserve the same opportunities as everyone else.” 

Freire added that NPC Brazil aims to build on its medal success from Paris 2024 at the LA28 Paralympic Games. 

Ten years on, Para powerlifter D’Andrea says the change in perception can be felt in everyday interactions.  

The two-time Paralympic champion said she is no longer asked for photos because of her disability.  

“They ask because I’m a medallist, because I lift 151 kg, because I’m an athlete.” 

 

 

 

 

Please visit our Rio 2016 page to learn more about the Games