The closing ceremony for the Paralympics was last night. A reader reflects:
I'm a long time UK reader but only a first time commenter, so I'm hopeful that this is how you add to the discussion. I was lucky enough to be able to get tickets for the Olympics here in London last month. I felt privileged to attend and it was amazing. There are many moments that will stay with me forever: seeing GB cyclist Victoria Pendelton break the Olympic record in the velodrome, cheering Mo Farah enter the stadium for the first round of the 5,000m only days after he won the 10,000m, celebrating the arrival of Sarah Attar, Saudi Arabia's first female track and field athlete. I'll always remember these moments because I was lucky enough to be there when they happened.
However, I now realise I was something of a snob.
London 2012 was designed to be a Games in two parts; an Olympics followed by a Paralympics - a parallel Olympics – and I speak as someone who "backed the bid" eight years ago and now works for a local authority who was partly responsible for hosting this year's Games. I like many here initially focused on the first 17 days, but my experiences of attending sessions over the last week has been unbeatable. My experience is that, at least here in Britain, these Paralympic Games are being taken just as seriously as the Olympics and in many ways have been taken to heart as "our games" in a way the Olympics couldn't be.
Yes, there are the amazing stories of inspiration that NBC would focus on, if only they were showing it. Not least Martine Wright, a survivor of the 7/7 bombings that took place one day after London was awarded the right to host the 30th Summer Olympiad, competing for GB's sitting volleyball. But what has been so amazing is that the audiences in the stadia and at home watching live on TV are taking these Games incredibly seriously. GB wants second place in the table. Australia and the US need to be beaten. This is real sport.
When Oscar Pistorius was beaten into second place on last Sunday night in his 200m final it made headline news and the back pages of the papers because it was a shock. Pistorius wasn't brave; he was fast. He wasn't an inspiration; he was expected to win. This is where I would disagree with S.E Smith; my experience is that most people are treating this in a way that is far from patronising, far from a freak show. This counts. This really counts. These competitors are true athletes. People are turning up, having watched the Olympics, expecting top-class sport and finding that they are getting just that. You need only see how Ellie Simmonds and David Weir are being celebrated as much a Jess Ennis and Bradley Wiggins.
I appreciate that this may not be true of other countries, but the UK celebrates its 2012 athletes today, and it celebrates both its Olympians and Paralympians together, at the same time. At least at London 2012 they are being seen as one team, and I for one am aware of at least one family with a disabled daughter who has been inspired by what she has seen. Inspired not to think that she can merely survive, but that she can thrive, that she can be world class and that really is a legacy that I believe will last more than a generation.
To go back to what Oscar Pistorius said before the Games:
There are a lot of people around the world who are going to watch these Games and are going to be forced to see the Paralympics through the eyes of the people of the UK. And that is a great thing.
By the way, keep an eye out for the incredible kid featured in this video:
Like any other kid growing up in Rio de Janeiro, Gabriel Muniz has soccer on the brain. Although he was born without feet, the 11-year-old impressed Barcelona talent scouts and landed a trip to Spain for the club's summer training camp.
The Dish 