* Paralympics biggest in event’s history
* “Look up at the stars,” Hawking says
* 160 nations represented, 4,280 athletes participate
By Tom Pilcher
LONDON, Aug 29 (Reuters) – Wheelchair-bound physicist
Stephen Hawking and South Africa’s ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar
Pistorius were among the luminaries on hand for the opening on
Wednesday night of the biggest Paralympics in the 11-day
competition’s history.
Hard on the heels of the hard-act-to-follow London 2012
Olympics, the Paralympics got off to a rousing start with
dancers, fireworks and near sold-out ticket sales for
competitions to be held in the same Olympics park venues.
Hawking, diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of
21 and told in 1963 he had two years to live, began the ceremony
by reading from the stage.
“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Be
curious,” Hawking said from his wheelchair, speaking through his
famous computerised voice system for communication.
The London Paralympics will host the highest number of
athletes since their official birth in 1960 at the Rome Games,
with 4,280 athletes representing over 160 nations compared to
400 participants from 23 countries in the Italian capital.
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