This year’s summer of sport would make for a great Top Trumps game (or series of packs for that matter) because the fact is that the Olympics and the Paralympics were so closely matched for brilliance that in a card game – a winner would be far from clear. In some respects there was nothing between the events – think GB’s performance overall in the medals tables – third in both.
David Weir, Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Jonnie Peacock, Hannah Cockroft, Greg Rutherford, Sarah Storey, Sir Chris Hoy, Ellie Simmonds, Rebecca Adlington, Mandeville, Wenlock – who would trump who?
Last night’s Paralympics closing ceremony was terrific; in fact in my opinion it was better and would therefore trump the Olympics equivalent. Where the Olympics ceremony felt disjointed in places because of efforts to cram
so much in, the Paralympic closure was more consistent. Rather than multiple bands and multiple music genres, Coldplay had the stage for the evening and the band was fantastic.
The BBC coverage for the Olympics was better than the Paralympics Channel 4 coverage.
But a ticket for the Paralympics was much easier to get than an Olympic ticket.
How would you call Lord Coe’s closing speech versus Lord Coe’s closing speech?
The theme throughout this piece is that there is no justification for discriminating between the two events. The Paralympics was not the poor relative to the Olympics and in my mind the former was greater in many ways.
From a personal perspective, the Olympics was gripping; when it ended I was uncomfortable that the Paralympics would be much lower key and that would look and feel like discrimination (and there is too much of that nonsense
as it is). If that had have happened, it would have been an embarrassment for the UK.
Aside from my belief that the BBC really should have covered the Paralympics too, I think that the UK can take some pride from what has been achieved. Disability was not hidden from view, or avoided in discussion, the athletes were not treated like freaks and watching them perform was not presented as some kind of voyeuristic spectacle.
Instead what commandeered our minds were willpower, effort, achievement and celebration and these, more spiritual qualities were no different between the games. The noise in the venues and the support for the athletes was huge and again there was no discernible difference.
The whole country has received an education and from a personal perspective I have learnt a lot about how disabilities are classified and how they are mitigated in sporting terms.
During the Olympics I reflected on just how much the human body and mind is capable of – in the Paralympics I reflected even more; I was amazed and humbled.
The UK has raised the bar on disabled sport and I for one hope that the bar gets lifted even higher! Lord Coe stated in his closing speech yesterday that disabled sport would never be the same again and I think that we all owe it to ourselves and the country to make sure that he is right.
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David Weir, Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Jonnie Peacock, Hannah Cockroft, Greg Rutherford, Sarah Storey, Sir Chris Hoy, Ellie Simmonds, Rebecca Adlington, Mandeville, Wenlock – who would trump who?
Last night’s Paralympics closing ceremony was terrific; in fact in my opinion it was better and would therefore trump the Olympics equivalent. Where the Olympics ceremony felt disjointed in places because of efforts to cram
so much in, the Paralympic closure was more consistent. Rather than multiple bands and multiple music genres, Coldplay had the stage for the evening and the band was fantastic.
The BBC coverage for the Olympics was better than the Paralympics Channel 4 coverage.
But a ticket for the Paralympics was much easier to get than an Olympic ticket.
How would you call Lord Coe’s closing speech versus Lord Coe’s closing speech?
The theme throughout this piece is that there is no justification for discriminating between the two events. The Paralympics was not the poor relative to the Olympics and in my mind the former was greater in many ways.
From a personal perspective, the Olympics was gripping; when it ended I was uncomfortable that the Paralympics would be much lower key and that would look and feel like discrimination (and there is too much of that nonsense
as it is). If that had have happened, it would have been an embarrassment for the UK.
Aside from my belief that the BBC really should have covered the Paralympics too, I think that the UK can take some pride from what has been achieved. Disability was not hidden from view, or avoided in discussion, the athletes were not treated like freaks and watching them perform was not presented as some kind of voyeuristic spectacle.
Instead what commandeered our minds were willpower, effort, achievement and celebration and these, more spiritual qualities were no different between the games. The noise in the venues and the support for the athletes was huge and again there was no discernible difference.
The whole country has received an education and from a personal perspective I have learnt a lot about how disabilities are classified and how they are mitigated in sporting terms.
During the Olympics I reflected on just how much the human body and mind is capable of – in the Paralympics I reflected even more; I was amazed and humbled.
The UK has raised the bar on disabled sport and I for one hope that the bar gets lifted even higher! Lord Coe stated in his closing speech yesterday that disabled sport would never be the same again and I think that we all owe it to ourselves and the country to make sure that he is right.
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