Success of Olympic and Paralympic games was Made in Britain

A glittering closing ceremony brought the curtain down last night with Shropshire's gold medal winner Mickey Bushell describing it as 'mind-blowing'.

A huge worldwide audience tuned in to see superstars Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay Z salute the stars of the Paralympics in front of a packed stadium.

The roaring crowd gave a standing ovation as Lord Coe spoke. He said the competition had changed the way that Britons view sport and disability forever.

"The Paralympic Games has set new records; sporting records, records for crowds for TV audiences, for unbridled spirit.

"In this country we will never think of sport the same way and we will never think of disability the same way. The Paralympians have lifted the cloud of limitation.

"Finally, there are some famous words you can find stamped on the bottom of a product. "Words, that when you read them, you know mean high quality, mean skill, mean creativity.

"We have stamped those words on the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"London 2012. Made in Britain."

Shropshire's T53 100m gold medallist Mickey Bushell, 22, said: "It was absolutely amazing. "To see Jay-Z, Rihanna and Coldplay on the same stage was phenomenal. I've never seen anything like it in my life."

See more coverage of the Paralympics closing ceremony in today's Shropshire Star