London Olympics 2012 - Page 7

Ciaran · 09-09-2012, 06:47 AM

Today marks the final day of London 2012 with the Paralympics 2012 coming to an end this evening.

This year's Paralympic Games are commonly viewed as having been the most successful to date with over 4,000 athletes from across 165 nations and, more importantly, these athletes being accepted / appreciated as world class sportsmen and sportswomen in their own right.

In particular, the UK has a number of new sporting heroes and heroines, including swimmer Ellie Simmonds (only 17 and has won 4 Paralympic golds, including 2 @ Beijing 2008) and 19 year-old Johnnie Peacock who won the 100m sprint in front of over 80,000 at the Olympic Stadium last Thursday - his success was greeted with the most fanfare of any sporting success at London 2012.

There's no doubt that there's more to be done in embracing Paralympic sports and more funding is required but, even before London won the right to stage the 2012 Olympics, the UK and Ireland were both ahead of the curve in terms of support for Paralympic athletes. For most Olympic / Paralympic sports, the UK & Irish Paralympic and Olympic athletes train side-by-side.

This year has been a record year for Team GB, third in the medal table and live TV coverage of almost all the events with up to 7 million watching at times (good viewing figures for a population of less than 60 million). Almost all Paralympic events have sold out, with 80,000 at the main stadium each day and a total of 2.5 million attending the various events in person over the past 10 days.

What's been most uplifting has been the personal stories of many of the athletes, non more so than Martine Wright. She played for the UK in the wheelchair volleyball, having lost both her legs in the July 7th 2005 terrorist bombings, ironically the day after London was awarded the games.

The Paralympics Opening Ceremony, starring a wide range of celebrities including Stephen Hawking, was generally perceived as being more entertaining than either the Opening or Closing Ceremony of the Olympics and am very much looking forward to tonight's Closing Ceremony - a fitting end to 2012 and, as should be the case, setting the bar very high for Rio 2016.

09-09-2012, 06:47 AM	#121
Ciaran Member How Do You Identify?: Altocalciphilic Preferred Pronoun?: Papa Smurf Relationship Status: Curmudgeonous spinster Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: London (but from Belfast) Posts: 678 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 471 Thanked 3,656 Times in 602 Posts Rep Power: 21474851	Today marks the final day of London 2012 with the Paralympics 2012 coming to an end this evening. This year's Paralympic Games are commonly viewed as having been the most successful to date with over 4,000 athletes from across 165 nations and, more importantly, these athletes being accepted / appreciated as world class sportsmen and sportswomen in their own right. In particular, the UK has a number of new sporting heroes and heroines, including swimmer Ellie Simmonds (only 17 and has won 4 Paralympic golds, including 2 @ Beijing 2008) and 19 year-old Johnnie Peacock who won the 100m sprint in front of over 80,000 at the Olympic Stadium last Thursday - his success was greeted with the most fanfare of any sporting success at London 2012. There's no doubt that there's more to be done in embracing Paralympic sports and more funding is required but, even before London won the right to stage the 2012 Olympics, the UK and Ireland were both ahead of the curve in terms of support for Paralympic athletes. For most Olympic / Paralympic sports, the UK & Irish Paralympic and Olympic athletes train side-by-side. This year has been a record year for Team GB, third in the medal table and live TV coverage of almost all the events with up to 7 million watching at times (good viewing figures for a population of less than 60 million). Almost all Paralympic events have sold out, with 80,000 at the main stadium each day and a total of 2.5 million attending the various events in person over the past 10 days. What's been most uplifting has been the personal stories of many of the athletes, non more so than Martine Wright. She played for the UK in the wheelchair volleyball, having lost both her legs in the July 7th 2005 terrorist bombings, ironically the day after London was awarded the games. The Paralympics Opening Ceremony, starring a wide range of celebrities including Stephen Hawking, was generally perceived as being more entertaining than either the Opening or Closing Ceremony of the Olympics and am very much looking forward to tonight's Closing Ceremony - a fitting end to 2012 and, as should be the case, setting the bar very high for Rio 2016.