The Paralympics An How They Have Been Affected By Being In London

The 6th June 2005 was the day London beat Paris and was awarded the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games

. The majority of people were looking forward to the Olympic games leaving the Paralympics in the shadow. But as the games drew closer it was clear that these Paralympics were not going to be any normal Paralympics.

On the 29th August 2012 the opening ceremony took place and although it was not match for the Olympics opening ceremony it was still something to grab the attention of an worldwide audience. Athletes with physical and mental disabilities then began competing against each other for gold, silver and bronze medals. The athletes that do compete in these games are true inspirations. It is not that the Olympians do not put a lot of effort in but the extra effort the paralympians have to put in is something special, they put their bodies through enormous pain just for the glory of standing there in front of a capacity crowd and hearing their national anthem being played because of something they just did. The Olympics are meant to inspire a generation but the Paralympics will inspire more than just a generation they will inspire everybody.

You have to wonder how they do it. Could you wake up in the morning without your eyesight then go and run 5000m? A well-known paralympian is the South African Blade Runner, Oscar Pistorius was born without the fibula and when he was 11 months old the rest of his lower leg was amputated, he was then give prosthetic legs on which he began to run. In 2008 he missed out on qualifying for the Beijing Olympics by 0.4 seconds in the 400m. This did not put him off in 2012 he qualified for the London Olympics as well as qualifying for the Paralympics as well. Although he did not win a medal in the Olympics it was still extremely significant as it shows that paralympians are not far behind the Olympians.

The Paralympics originated in the UK and were originally called the Stoke Mandeville Games as that is where they were held. Once the event began to grow in caught the eyes of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) that help turn the games into an international event and it was first help alongside the Olympics in 1960 in Rome. In 1984 it was officially renamed the Paralympics but its legacy remained. When the London 2012 mascots were revealed one of them was called Mandeville because of the Paralympic legacy.

It is because of this that it is extremely special when it returned in 2012 as it was the first time that this had happened in its modern format. In this modern format for the different types of disabilities there are 503 event final with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals awarded in all of the 20 sports within the games.

In these Paralympics it will be the first time the pilots for the visually impaired will be awarded medals. This is because when the athletes they are guided around the track by pilots. The IPC (International Paralympic Committee) decided that they deserved medals due to the commitment they put in while aiding these athletes.

Another reason why these Paralympics are so special is that it will be attended by the largest crowd that has ever attended the Paralympics. Over 2.4 Million tickets were sold out of a possible 2.5 Million that were available. This means that most of the events will be watched by a sell-out crowd and this will act as a motivation to these athletes if they even needed anymore. This also shows how people are now more interested in the Paralympics and do not see it as a secondary games like they have been before, they were going to be seen as something that was just as special as the Olympics and it is exactly what it is meant to be.

Great Britain has high hope for the Paralympics and is already on course to beat their medals total from the Beijing Paralympics. This is quite an achievement to be the worlds 2nd best Paralympic team behind China who seem to have an extremely strong team and during the Beijing Paralympics they got 109 more medals that Great Britain who were in 2nd place. For many of the athletes taking part in the games they are just happy to be there representing their country which on its own is one huge achievement. The question is though, can Rio De Janeiro in 2016 match the spectacular event?

by: Chetan Wallace

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