Vaires-sur-Marne – After having achieved a historic double in paracanoeing, the “cowboys” Fernando Rufino and Igor Tofalini will be the flag bearers for Brazil at the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The ceremony will take place this Sunday (08), at 15:30 (Brasilia time), at the Stade de France.
Rufino and Tofalini were informed of the news shortly after the VL2 200-meter race, which took place at the Estadio Náutico de Vaires-sur-Marne, this Sunday morning. In the end, Rufino won the gold medal – becoming a two-time Paralympic champion – while Tofalini won the silver. It was the first time that a double had occurred in men’s paracanoe at the Paralympic Games.
“The good news is that Rufino and I will be the flag bearers of the closing ceremony here of the Paralympic Games. We will be there with me wearing a Mexican hat and him with a hat representing pedestrians and all the classes with boots and hats,” said Igor Tofalini in the mixed zone, immediately after the race.
Fernando Rufino and Igor Tofalini are great competitors, but also life partners. The two have been dominant in this cycle, having won doubles in canoeing in the last three Paracanoe World Cups. Tofalini won gold in 2022, leaving Rufino with silver. In 2023 and 2024 the roles were reversed: Rufino won gold, while Tofalini won silver.
In addition to being great athletes, the two athletes are similar in their life stories. The two began their careers in rodeos. Fernando Rufino, born in Itaquiraí (MS), was a rodeo rider and dreamed of conquering the world on the back of a bull, but lost the use of his legs when he was hit by a bus. Igor Tofalini, from Cambé in Paraná, began participating in rodeos at the age of 15, but in 2011 he became paraplegic after suffering a fall from a bull that fractured his spine.
Source: Terra
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