The Paralympic flag is waved by Mayor of Rio de Janeiro Eduardo Paes (R) following the hand over by Sir Philip Craven (C) watched by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson during the closing ceremony for the 2012 Paralympics Games in London Sunday. Rio de Janeiro will hold the next Paralympic Games in 2016. — AP LONDON — Thousands of people waving British flags lined the streets of London Monday to toast the athletes behind the country's unprecedented summer of sporting success. Twenty-one floats carried members of the Olympic and Paralympic teams from St. Paul's Cathedral to Buckingham Palace, where the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows aerobatic team left a trail of red, white and blue smoke over The Mall. “Unbelievable, to think that everyone's come out for all of us,” said Zara Phillips, Queen Elizabeth II's grand daughter who won a silver medal in equestrian. “This is like the whole games though ... the crowd were unbelievable and we are so grateful to them.” London staged two trouble-free Games that defied initial anxiety about security and inclement weather to provide a lift for the recession-hit nation. Britain's summer in the international spotlight began in May with festivities to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. “What a golden summer it has been for our country,” Prime Minister David Cameron said. Cameron said there is also a lesson to draw from the Olympics, as countries across Europe struggle to deal with huge debts and sharp austerity programs. “I think there is something else that we can take from this extraordinary period,” he said outside Downing Street. “And that is for countries to succeed in this competitive and difficult world you need to have confidence that you can do big things and get them right. “You need to have confidence that you can take on the best and beat the best, and I think the Olympic and Paralympics — we've absolutely done that as a country.” At the Olympics last month, Britain finished third in the medal standings with 29 golds, 17 silvers and 19 bronzes to surpass its 2008 performance. The Paralympic team also finished third, with 120 medals, missing its target of coming second. A rousing concert featuring Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z signaled the end of the London's sporting summer Sunday night. International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Philip Craven declared the Games closed, only for Brazilian dancers to follow the mayor of Rio de Janeiro Eduardo Paes on to the stage and whet the appetite for the next Olympics in South America. — Agencies
