Paralympics

suejoe · Paralympics

We've won 4 gold medals on the first day of the Paralympics

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/o...orts/disability_sport/default.stm

Sue

jennywales

Yes, I saw some of it, and also read the news - great showing so far, hope the team keeps it up!

Tagalie

I find wheelchair basketball far more entertaining than the running around version- it looks much more skillful and tactical. Also, far harder surely to get the ball in the net from sitting down, rather than being 7 ft 8 and just loping over and dropping it in.

I was also mightily impressed with the sight of disabled swimmers powering up 50m pools doing butterfly, seeing as with two good arms I can manage approx 2.5 flailing butterfly strokes before nearly drowning.

Apparently the British equestrian team totally rule at all these events, so looking forward to a haul of medals there.

MT VESSELS

Jimbob

Am I not right in saying that in the case of some of these athletes, their disability actually gives them anadvantage over able bodied performers?

suejoe

kickingkyle

I seen him do the 400m in the rain, he didnt have an advantage then!

suejoe

Papa 3

I am positive that he would rather have his legs. He is not as fast as the best able bodied athletes according to the information below.

The South African also holds Paralympic world records for the 200m (21.58secs) and 100m (10.91secs).

He has come close to times set by able-bodied athletes but has yet to attain the Olympic qualifying time over 400m.

Pistorius's Paralympic world record of 46.34 seconds is also some way off the best able-bodies athletes.

The fastest active athlete is American Jeremy Wariner, whose best time is 43.50secs, while fellow countryman Michael Johnson holds the world record at 43.18.

At last year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, Pistorius won the Helen Rollason Award, given annually to an athlete showing courage in the face of adversity.

Better for him to compete than mope his life away, but, he has a disibility, and when competing, it should be as a paralympian, against others who can use the same equipment, and measure their performances against their peers. IMO

suejoe

His ban was lifted,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/7243481.stm

But he failed to qualify anyway

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/19/olympicgames2008.athletics

I didn't know about any of this,

I really must try and keep up with the rest of the world

Sue

FallonFacta

16 Golds for Team GB

Same as China!!!

suejoe

Rowan

So.. we're still doing really well.

But I'm more than a little gobsmacked when it feels like every other day I go to find out what's happened and find people stripped of medals and having to rerun their finals - how can that happen? Surely a top athlete is tuned to give their all for that moment - how can you tell them they have to do it all over again a few days later?

And then yesterday our silver medallist in the discus gets disqualified because she gets reclassified! I know it's complicated but this takes the biscuit - first she gets reclassified before the comp starts and then after she wins a medal she suddenly doesn't fit into a class at all?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/o...orts/disability_sport/7615106.stm

Gorg_George

How many medals have Britain been 'stripped' of, and made to re-run or outright disqualified? I've not been paying close attention to the games but interested to know why Britain keep seemingly getting robbed.

MT VESSELS

For 2012 they are introducing categories for mental disabilities and not just physical disabilities.
Well there is no way i would go to watch whilst the javelin is being done.

MT jnr