The 2016 Summer Paralympics, the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. The Games marked the first time a Latin American and South American city hosted the event, the second Southern Hemisphere city and nation, the first one being the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, and also the first time a Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country hosted the event. These Games saw the introduction of two new sports to the Paralympic program: canoeing and the paratriathlon.
Syria first participated at the Olympic Games in 1948. Syrian diver Zouheir Shourbagi, the sole competitor, placed 10th in the men's platform. Syria then missed the next four Olympiads. Syria returned to the Games in 1968, and has sent athletes to compete in all but one Summer Olympic Games, missing the 1976 Games. Syria has never participated in the Winter Olympic Games.
Dame Sarah Joanne Storey, is a British cyclist and swimmer, a multiple gold medallist in the Paralympic Games, and six times British (able-bodied) national track champion.
Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The country finished third in the medals table, behind China and Russia, winning 120 medals in total; 34 gold, 43 silver and 43 bronze. Multiple medallists included cyclist Sarah Storey and wheelchair athlete David Weir, who won four gold medals each, and swimmer Stephanie Millward who won a total of five medals. Storey also became the British athlete with the most overall medals, 22, and equal-most gold medals, 11, in Paralympic Games history.
Jennette Jansen is a Paralympian from the Netherlands competing mainly in category TW4 wheelchair racing and later as a basketball player and cyclist. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, in Women's individual class 7, winning a gold medal, and in Women's road time trial H4–5 winning a bronze medal.
Michael Thomas Gallagher, OAM is an Australian Paralympic cyclist from Scotland. He has won gold medals at the Beijing and 2012 London Paralympics. He was selected in the Australian team for the 2016 Rio Paralympics. The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) revealed that Gallagher had returned a positive A sample for erythropoietin (EPO) in an out-of-competition training camp in Italy in July 2016. This A positive disqualified him from the Rio Paralympics.
Bryce Lindores is an Australian Paralympic tandem cyclist.
David Nicholas, is an Australian cyclist. He won silver and gold medals at the 2012 London Paralympics and a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Susan "Sue" Powell, is an Australian cyclist. At the 2012 London Paralympics, she won a gold medal in the Women's Individual Pursuit C4, setting a new world record in the process, and a silver medal in the Women's Individual Pursuit C4. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Powell won the silver medal in the 3 km Women's Individual Pursuit C4.
Carol Lynn Cooke, is a Canadian-born Australian cyclist, swimmer and rower. A keen swimmer, she was part of the Canadian national swimming team and was hoping to be selected for the 1980 Moscow Olympics before her country boycotted the games. She moved to Australia in 1994, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998, and took up rowing in 2006, in which she narrowly missed out on being part of the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. She then switched to cycling, where she won a gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympics, two gold medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics and a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Miroslav "Miro" Šipek is an Australian rifle shooting coach. During his long and successful shooting career he was a champion of Yugoslavia 27 times in a range of disciplines. He won several medals at various international competitions and Balkans Championships, 4 silver medals at European Championships and a bronze at the 1970 World Championships in Phoenix Arizona.
India competed in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London from 29 August to 9 September 2012. The nation made its official debut at the 1968 Summer Paralympics and has appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since 1984. This was India's 10th appearance at the Summer Paralympics. The Indian contingent consisted of ten athletes competing across four sports in the Paralympic Games. India won one silver medal in the competition.
Maddison Gae Elliott, is an Australian swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she became the youngest Australian Paralympic medallist by winning bronze medals in the women's 400 m and 100 m freestyle S8 events. She then became the youngest Australian gold medallist when she was a member of the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34 points team. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she won three gold and two silver medals.
Amanda Reid is an Australian Paralympic swimmer, cyclist and snowboarder. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, she won a silver medal in the Women's 500 m Time Trial C1–3 and at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics a gold medal in the 500 m Time Trial C1–3. In 2023, she won a gold medal at the 2023 World Para Snowboard Championships.
Spain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012.
Neil Michael Fachie is a Scottish cyclist and former track athlete, competing in events for people with a visual impairment. Fachie has competed in two Paralympics, as a sprinter in the 2008 Games in Beijing and as a tandem cyclist in London 2012. In London he won the gold medal in the Men's individual 1 km time trial and silver in the individual sprint, both with Barney Storey as his sighted pilot. Outside of the Paralympic Games, Fachie is a nineteen-time world champion and 5 times Commonwealth Games champion, creating tandem partnerships with Barney Storey, Pete Mitchell, and Olympians Craig MacLean and Matt Rotherham.
Shawn Morelli is an American Paralympic three-time gold medalist in cycling at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2020 Paralympic Games, winning four overall medals in both road and track cycling.
Bahman Golbarnezhad was an Iranian Paralympic racing cyclist competing in C4 classification events and an earlier powerlifter. During his powerlifting career, he won twelve gold medals and one silver medal in international competitions. Golbarnezhad had represented Iran in two Summer Paralympic Games, first in 2012 in London and later in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. He was the only Iranian cyclist at the 2016 Paralympics. He was a veteran of the Iran–Iraq war.
The United States competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
United States 
