British Paralympians return home

The British Paralympians were greeted by Gordon Brown

Great Britain's most successful Paralympics team in two decades have returned home on a gold-nosed plane.

Britain won 102 medals, including 42 golds, in China to finish second in the medals table behind the host nation.

GB chief Phil Lane hailed a "wonderful performance" but told reporters at Heathrow he was looking to the future.

"This is one of the top Paralympic performances we have had and will be a tough act to follow, but we need to get the recruitment right," he added.

"We really do need a new generation to push these guys and recruitment is the real issue. It's a difficult area for us.

"We find young talent is now dispersed in schools across the country and it's not so easy to identify them in the way we used to do.

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"We do need a real effort and a big drive to say, 'Come on, this is a great chance for you, look what these guys have delivered in Beijing, you could be part of that team in 2012'."

Eleanor Simmonds, who at 13 years of age became Britain's youngest ever individual Paralympic gold medallist, paid tribute to an "amazing" week.

"I've enjoyed every minute of it. After the races I was on such a high," she said. "I'll be 17 in 2012 and it'll be even better."

China topped the medal table in Beijing, winning an astonishing 87 golds out of a total of 207, having invested heavily in Paralympic sport and bolstering their squad.

Lane wants to see a similar drive ahead of his team's home Paralympics.

FROM BBC NEWS As the Paralympic flag was handed to London in Beijing, celebrations were under way in Stoke Mandeville where the first games were hosted in 1948 Vanessa Barford, BBC News

Earlier, he urged disabled British people to log on to www.parasport.org.uk to see if they have the necessary attributes to compete in a Paralympic sport.

He said: "Parasport is all about putting disabled people in touch with sport for enjoyment and competition and, who knows, some of them may end up on the podium in London."

Lane also emphasised his belief that, with the Paralympics forming the only real barometer of sporting success for disabled athletes, funding must be distributed evenly among competitors.

"The Olympic model is very simplistic - success equals more pounds," he said.

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"But if you apply that principle to Paralympic sport we'll end up with a skewed system for a few athletes.

"The only thing that matters in disability sport is a Paralympic championship.

"World championships don't stack up because a lot of nations don't compete. The challenge is to invest in the right way for 2012."

Of the 206 British Paralympic athletes in Beijing, 80 won a medal and 30 won gold.

Just over half of the team were appearing at their first Paralympic Games.