The Paralympic flame being carried across the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (17 October 2000) by four torchbearers. Sports and impairment groups The final program of the Games was presented by the Executive Council of the IPC in a meeting that took place between March 12 and 16, 1997 in Sweden. At this same meeting, SPOC presented its sustainability policies that were developed in a connected way and mirrored those implemented by SOOCOG. This program proposals needed to be independently approved by both the IPC and SPOC. The first draft program was turned public at the day 8 August 1997,and some changes were made in comparation to Atlanta, including the removal of 4 events in table tennis, 3 in shooting and 3 more in cycling. However, the program for the intellectually disabled has been expanded. For this disability, 14 new events in athletics, 18 in swimming and 2 in table tennis were added. Also an ID basketball tournament with 8-teams was also added. Track cycling has had its program completely overhauled and 9 new events have been added. Following its Olympic version, Powerlifting won 10 all-female events, wheelchair rugby and sailing officially became a Paralympic sports and with that the rugby tournament was expanded from 6 to 8 teams and single-handed 2.4mR event was added.Later, during the IPC Executive Board meeting held during the 1998 Winter Paralympics held in Nagano, Japan it was decided that lawn bowls would be officially removed from the Paralympic program starting from Sydney, due to the low number of countries participating in Atlanta, when it was included as an optional sport. Archery Athletics Basketball ID Boccia Cycling Equestrian Football 7-a-side Goalball Judo Powerlifting Sailing Shooting Swimming Table tennis Volleyball (sitting and standing) Wheelchair basketball Wheelchair fencing Wheelchair rugby Wheelchair tennis Impairment groups for the games included: Amputees Blind & Visually Impaired Cerebral Palsied Intellectually Disabled Les Autres and Spinal Cord Injuries Games highlights The Sydney Paralympics were deemed the "best Games ever" by Dr. Robert Steadward (then president of the International Paralympic Committee). The games were Australia's most successful in history, with the nation achieving their highest medal count. Of the 149 medals won, 63 were gold, 39 silver, and 47 were bronze, from ten different sports. Ticket sales exceeded organisers' initial targets, with 1.1 million tickets sold; nearly twice that of the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The Australian team had a number of notable