Beijing: The Olympic Games may be over, but the world's best differently-abled athletes are now in Beijing to show the world they too can produce some unforgettable performances. And the Chinese intend to keep their reputation intact as great hosts.
The fireworks were almost as spectacular as those a month ago to welcome 4,000 athletes from 148 countries for the next couple of weeks, who haven't let disability come in the way of athletic ambition.
South African swimmer Natalie du Toit is one such athlete.
"It was a freak accident and I went to hospital and they had to amputate my leg because it started going gangrene eventually. And then I wanted to get back into the pool again, I wanted to get back to life, I wanted to get back to what I knew as life," Natalie said.
Natalie is the first amputee athlete to qualify for the Olympic as well as the Paralympic Games.
This year itself she competed in the 10 kilometer race at the Beijing Olympics alongside able-bodied swimmers and then came back to win the gold in 100m butterfly event at the Paralympic Games.
"You know it is not about proving anybody wrong. It is proving that it is able to be done and I think that is the important part," she said.
Oscar Pistorius is a double amputee and he has often pitted his strength and speed against able bodied men in the track and field events, missing a spot in the Olympics by a whisker.
But the Paralympic Games are a chance for him to see the true measure of his own talent based on his personal abilities.
"Although I didn't, you know, I think that it's opened the door for the future, you know the future of disabled sports and I think for me that alone is a great accomplishment," said Pistorius.
And hosts China are hoping that just as the Olympics were a grand success; these games will be the same.
"I think they should be equally splendid. Although of course I wasn't inside the stadium today, but I have come to watch with the same kind of enthusiasm. Now I can only see fireworks but I'm just as excited," Bian Jing, a Beijing resident from Liaoning province, said.
The two-week long extravaganza will come to an end on September 17.
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