AMAZING Team GB stars have surpassed their medal tally from London 2012 and won their most golds in 28 years… but continue to celebrate in front of practically nobody.
Fans are staying away from the Olympic Stadium in their droves.
Even ticket giveaways have not been enough to tempt people to attend.
One striking image showed Hannah Cockroft and Kare Adenegan celebrate winning gold and bronze medals respectively in the T34 women’s 400m with barely a soul around them.
The Union Jack was draped triumphantly around their shoulders yet the only other people visible in the shot were officials and fellow competitors.
They celebrated in near silence in the ‘soulless stadium’.
It is in shuddering contrast to the jubilation surrounding London 2012, when the Queen officially started the Paralympic party in front of 80,000.
The T44 100m champ Jonnie Peacock blasted bosses for treating the follow-up to the Olympics like a “joke” with poor travel arrangements leading to deserted stadia.
He said: “My biggest annoyance is that they closed the Olympic lanes, just to save money.
“They told us it might take up to two hours to get to the stadium. It’s a joke.
“You would never have caught Britain doing that and I think that speaks for itself about the Paralympics and the respect we hold for it.
“When you see a tweet saying that tickets are sold out, it’s hard to get there and see that not even the bottom tier is full, while the top tier is closed off.
“There aren’t enough people to create the atmosphere. They could have made sure stadiums were full, even by giving tickets to schoolchildren.”
Loving the #ParalympicsRio2016
Wish there were more spectators though – imagine working hard for 4 years to be in empty stadium— Julie Asher-Smith (@julieashers) September 14, 2016
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Empty seats tarred the image of the Rio Olympics, too.
Usain Bolt’s 200m win came amid rows of empty seats in the top section of Olympic Stadium, the world’s biggest athletics star not enough to pack the 60,000-seat arena.
That led Games spokesman Mario Andrada to concede bosses were “worried”.
The reason for a lot of the indifference can be found in Brazil’s troubles at present.
Nearly two-thirds of the country’s people felt hosting the Games will cause the country more harm than good as they have to struggle through a recession while the government spent billions on the showcase.
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