RIO DE JANEIRO -- After 1,192 days, Brazils run of hosting mega-sports events came to an end Sunday at the Paralympic Games. Cheap Swingman Nuggets Jerseys .It began with soccers Confederations Cup in 2013, extended to the 2014 World Cup, ran through IOC President Thomas Bachs goodbye speech last month at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and finished with the closing ceremony of the Paralympics before 45,000 spectators at Rios Maracana stadium.Awarded when Brazil was a rising economic power, the sports pageants focused unprecedented attention on the country -- much of it unwanted.As the shows went on, Brazil plunged into a deep recession. A billion-dollar corruption scandal buffeted state-run oil company Petrobras, and President Dilma Rousseff was removed from office in an impeachment trial just days after the Olympics closed.This all left a very mixed legacy, Mauricio Santoro, an international relations expert at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, told The Associated Press. We are going to need some years to evaluate what was the impact, the worth of these events for Brazil.By a conservative estimate, Brazil spent about $30 billion organizing the events with a mix of public and private money that included the construction of four white-elephant soccer stadiums for the World Cup. All four are in cities without major teams.Rio fared better with the Olympics, getting a metro line extension, bus lines, and light-rail. But much of the investment was aimed at Rios upscale suburb of Barra da Tijuca -- not at the citys sprawling favelas, or slums. The Olympic Park and Athletes Village there will be molded into high-priced commercial and residential properties now that the games are done.I think the Olympics and Paralympics were a boost to the self-esteem of Brazil, Santoro said. They happened when everything was going so bad in Brazil. The mere fact they happened without serious problems, without an infrastructure disaster, without a terrorist attack, made Brazil feel better about itself.Brazils reputation away from home is another matter. Only a handful of foreign leaders attended the Olympics -- compared to about 100 four years ago in London.The state of Rio de Janeiro is broke and defaulting on bond payments. Some schools have suspended classes, and hospitals are understaffed. Only a last-minute bailout of about 250 million reals ($76.5 million) from the federal and local governments saved the Paralympics from a shortfall in the organizing committees privately funded operating budget.There was a feeling that Brazil is such a big mess, Santoro said. How could you have a good opinion of this country?Organizers bragged about legacy, but failed to deliver on a big promise made to secure the bid: the clean-up of Guanabara Bay, an open sewer that receives much of the citys untreated raw waste.Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes acknowledged the clean-up was a missed opportunity, one the International Olympic Committee overlooked and often defended.The Olympics endured some rough going, plagued by empty seats, organizational glitches and scandals -- one involving American swimmer Ryan Lochte and another in which high-ranking IOC member Patrick Hickey was arrested for scalping tickets. Hickey is still in Brazil awaiting trial and denies any wrongdoing.Bach also skipped the opening of the Paralympics to attend a mourning ceremony for former West Germany president and foreign minister Walter Scheel. His office said he missed Sundays closing ceremony to be in New York to take part in the United Nations Refugee Summit.Police investigators in Brazil want to question Bach about email exchanges he had with Hickey related to Irelands ticket allocation. Hes not accused of wrongdoing, but he could be held if he arrives in Brazil.Against most predictions, the Paralympics were a smoother ride with grassroots support. Arenas were packed with many tickets selling at just $3 apiece, in contrast to the Olympics, where many tickets were sold as part of high-end hospitality packages and often went unused.The Paralympics also topped the Olympics in compelling stories, and in some performances.No story was more moving than that of 37-year-old Belgian Marieke Vervoort, who won a silver medal in wheelchair racing. She has a degenerative spine disease and talked of plans to end her life by euthanasia when she can no longer endure the pain.For me, I think death is something like they operate on you, you go to sleep and you never wake up, Vervoort said. For me, its something peaceful.The top four finishers in the mens 1,500 -- in the T13 class for visually impaired runners -- all had better times than the Olympic champion in Rio, American Matthew Centrowitz. Abdellatif Baka of Algeria won in 3 minutes, 48.29 seconds. Centrowitz ran 3:50.00 in an admittedly slow, tactical race.German amputee long-jumper Marcus Rehm, who jumps with a carbon fiber blade and won gold in Rio, also holds the long jump world record of 8.40 meters. This is better than the winning jump in the Rio Olympics at 8.38 meters.There was tragedy, too, when Iranian Bahman Golbarnezhad, 48, died Saturday after crashing in a road-cycling race.China topped the medal table at the Paralympics, which is increasingly driven by nationalism -- much like the Olympics. Britain, Ukraine and the United States were next on the table.The Paralympics are a high-performance sporting event between countries, IPC spokesman Craig Spence said. The goal is to win the most gold medals here. Thats what every sport is about. Its about winning.---Stephen Wade on Twitter: http://twitter.com/StephenWadeAP . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/stephen-wade Cheap Nuggets Jerseys China . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. Cheap NBA Jerseys . The defending champion beat Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (6), 6-3, while second-seeded Andy Murray of Britain dispatched Edouard Roger-Vasselin, also of France, 6-3, 6-3. Making his first appearance since injuring his wrist a month ago, Del Potro had difficulty with his service games in the first set. http://www.cheapnuggetsjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-thomas-welsh-jersey . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. NEW YORK -- Changes could be coming for the New York Jets.Coach Todd Bowles was scheduled to meet with his staff -- as he does the day after every game -- on Tuesday night, and switching things up at various positions was on the table.Including at quarterback.Were going to talk about more than that, Bowles said during a conference call Tuesday, but theres a possibility every week that there will be some changes made player-wise.Ryan Fitzpatrick was pulled in the second half of the Jets 28-3 loss at Arizona on Monday night and replaced by former starter Geno Smith.Fitzpatrick has an NFL-leading 11 interceptions, and Smith added one of his own in mop-up duty against the Cardinals. Bowles said in his postgame news conference that the Jets would stick with Fitzpatrick for Sundays game against Baltimore.Bowles said he revisited his postgame comments regarding the quarterback situation, but insisted that he wants to meet with general manager Mike Maccagnan and his coaching staff before announcing whether or not he was making a change.After the game, its always going to be status quo, Bowles said during the conference call, because Im never going to tell the media anything before I meet with my coaches and my GM and the rest of the staff.But many fans and media wondered if it might be time to look toward the future and see what Bryce Petty, a fourth-rounder last year, or rookie Christian Hackenberg, a second-rounder, can do with the Jets off to a 1-5 start.Petty just returned to practice last week, though, following a preseason shoulder injury, and Hackenberg has been limited to scout team snaps.Its possible, Bowles acknowledged. Weve still got some stages to go before we get to that point, but its definitely possible.Fitzpatrick was re-signed to a one-year, $12 million deal on the eve of training camp, a move most Jets players celebrated after the veteran quarterback set a franchise record with 31 touchdown passes and led New York to a 10-6 record and within a win of a playoff spot.But Fitzpatrick has had a rough go of it this season, including a six-interception performance at Kansas City on Sept. 25.Meanwhile, Smith has tried to stay patient, but he told an ESPN reporter before the game Monday night that he waas getting antsy while being stuck on the sideline as the team struggles. Michael Porter Jr. Jersey. dont have any thoughts on a backup player saying anything, Bowles said of Smiths comments. Theyre backups for a reason and if they get a chance to play, they better prove themselves worthy of playing, regardless of who the person is.Smith had a good start to his first action of this season in the fourth quarter, connecting on his first four passes. But on third-and-3 from the Cardinals 40, Smith fumbled as he was sacked, but the Jets recovered. He was intercepted by Tyrann Mathieu on the next play.He did show some promise when he was in there, Bowles said. He understood the game plan. He did good for the drive he was in there.Bowles acknowledged that his coaching staff will remain unchanged for now.Weve had success with the coaches and players that we have, he said. Were not having success right now, in the past four weeks. Some people get rid of people and have success, but some people get rid of people and have failure.You have to know what you have and you have to navigate it through and work toward getting better as a team. I think we have those people to do that.While the quarterback gets most of the blame, the secondary has struggled mightily, as has the offensive line and the running game, to name a few areas of concern.The defensive line was expected to be a major force, but it has also not played up to par through six games.The effort theyre giving is fine, Bowles said of the D-line. Weve just got to clean up some small things.But a lot of small issues have contributed to what has been a big mess of a start for the Jets.And at 1-5, Bowles knows that New Yorks postseason prospects are growing slimmer with each loss.Theyre not finished, but they dont look bright, thats for sure, Bowles said. Were just trying to win a ballgame. Weve got to take it a week at a time. Were not even discussing playoffs. We havent discussed playoffs since the season began, actually. Weve got to have a quick turnaround and weve got to play better.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL Cheap NFL HoodiesCheap Nike NFL JerseysWholesale Nike NFL JerseysWholesale Jerseys Free ShippingJerseys NFL ChinaWholesale NFL Autographed JerseysCheap Jerseys Free Shipping ' ' '
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