London's Paralympic Games, which ended on September 9, have been hailed as a runaway success. With packed attendances at most events as well as widespread coverage in most media, this year's Paralympics seem to have more than fulfilled the goal of the games, which is "to enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world." Many of the traditional Olympic superpowers also finished high in the Paralympics rankings with China topping the medal table with 95 golds (231 total medals), followed by Russia's 36 gold medals (102 overall) and Great Britain's 34 (120 total medals).
Paralympic Games Come To A Close
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Britain's Prince Edward (left) and International Paralympic Committee chairman Sir Philip Craven (center) arrive at the closing ceremony.
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Athletes and performers taking part in the closing ceremony.
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Italy's Alessandro Zanardi -- a former Formula 1 race driver -- celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men's individual H4 time trial cycling final.
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Iran's Hajar Taktaz competes in a women's shot-put final.
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Ahmed Naas of Iraq (top) embraces Wildan Nukhailawi of Iraq after the end of a men's javelin final at the Olympic Stadium in London's Olympic Park.
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Russia's Denis Tarasov reacts to winning a men's 50-meter swimming freestyle final.
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Ukraine's Ruslan Katyshev competes in the men's triple-jump final.
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Russia's Margarita Goncharova poses with the gold medal after winning a women's long jump event.