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Canadian Paralympians snap back to reality after life in Rio bubble

Life outside of the Paralympic Games in Rio comes with its fair share of challenges for Canadian athletes, but also its fair share of heartwarming surprises.

Athletes return home to laundry, colder weather and making room in their trophy cabinets

Alexis Allison · CBC Sports ·
Paralympic swimmers Tammy Cunnington, Aurelie Rivard and Benoit Huot are among the Canadian athletes who are finding life a little different outside of the Rio Games. (Twitter)

It took years of training for Canada's Paralympians to book their ticket to the Rio Games, and after only 11 days of competition the athletes are returning home and readjusting to life outside of the Paralympic bubble.

Some, like swimmers Aurelie Rivard and Benoit Huot, are returning with hardware around their necks. Rivard won an impressive three gold and one silver in Rio, while Huot won his milestone 20th Paralympic medal.

Michelle Stilwell also added to Canada's medal count, winning her fifth and sixth career Paralympic gold medals in Rio. If that wasn't enough, the Parksville, B.C. native returned home to a little something extra to be proud of:

Paralympians Tammy Cunnington and Miranda Biletski were just excited to get back to some familiar hometown grub, or at least something from outside the Rio dining hall.

All in all, leaving Rio definitely comes with a bit of 'back-to-reality' shock.

That is, if the athletes are actually able to make it OUT of Rio.

But when the athletes do finally make it home, they can be rest assured that they will be greeted by proud fans, friends and family.

So what's next for these Paralympians? Only time (or their Twitter accounts) will tell.

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