Paralympic rant

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike Rotch
  • 15 comments
  • 583 views
Mike Rotch

Mike Rotch

Aluminium Overcast
Staff Emeritus
Messages
13,827
Australia
Down under
So, how many of you have been watching the Paralympics?

I would suspect not many. And the first reaction of people who I ask that question is "Why would i watch those freaks?". Now, I encourage people to say that. To my face. So I can send them back from whenst they came with their front teeth in their pocket. I dont know what the coverage is like in other parts of the world, but it is only slightly less then the "real" Olympics here.

For me, the Paralympics is what "amateur" athletics isn't. Athletes compete with humilty, modesty and for the simple fact that they are competing for an Olympic medal. Many of you may say they have much to be modest about. To that I give you the proverbial middle finger. You obviously havent seen a double leg amputee run the 200m less the 2 secs slower then that arrogant a-hole Shaun Crawford. Moreover, there was no strutting around out of vanity and no steroid stuffing during training. Ever watched a wheelcahir basketball match? That takes skill. Sitting 3 feet of the ground and stil being able to make baskets shows the 7 foot pretty boys of able bodied Olympics for what they are - over-rated and over-appreciated.

I cant fathom why the Paralympics is the bridesmaid to the Olympics. Does it take more heart and dedication to take part in the Paralympics then the Olympics? Sure does in my book. Could you swim the 200m IM with one arm and still win a medal? Or run the 400m without being able to see where you are going? Could you face the media being mentally handicapped and unable to articulate your triumphant feelings of beating a world record?

What really breaks my heart is seeing these athletes perform amazing feats - to an empty stadium. It makes my blood boil to see vast empty concete stands everywhere during a medal cermony. The Paralympics should precede the Olympics, not occur as an after thought.

Anyway, endrant.exe.
 
We get a lot of Paralympic coverage on TV, we have 1 hour before the 6pm news and Paralympic news during the news itself.

I was watching a 100m backstroke race and this guy had no arms what so ever. He blitzed the whole field consisting of more able-bodied athletes. The amount of skill shown was inspirational to say the least.

Later on I was watching the Chinese women’s cycling team and one rider only had one leg and was faster than most of those with lesser disabilities. It takes sheer determination and training for these athletes to get were they are and not to be properly recognised until the 1980's when the Paralympics began to take place at the same venues where the Olympics take place is somewhat disturbing. Is it only in the last 25 years that we have begun to appreciate those who we might not normally consider to be normal?

Here in NZ the gap between these disabled athletes and more able bodied is getting less and less and we are beginning to get in behind what ever success we have, whether it be us in wheel-chair rugby or our badminton team, it makes no difference. We are also beginning to see a lot more awareness and variety of sports covered in the news. It used to be just cricket and rugby but now it covers a lot more and it is for the better.
 
yeah, i think the paralympics are great. those runners are incredibly fast whether you consider their handicaps or not.

i havent seen any paralympic throwers though. i think the paralympics should be an olympic prologue, or become integrated into the regular olympics, but as paralympic events.
 
There has been a fair bit of coverage. Not just because we are second in the medals table :D
It is pretty impressive watching many of the athletes, but I will admit I look (and listen) at some and I think,'what's wrong with them.' It isn't that I doubt they have a handicap, but couldn't they make the classifications easier. W/M12 and T56 are abit hard to decipher.

Did anyone see teh 13yr old Chinese boy in the swimming? Although he didn't win a medal he did well to get there.
 
I've been enjoying the Paralympics more that I enjoyed watching the Olympics. This is partly down to the fact that some of the sports are made mroe interesting with the different rules. I'm amazed that there's no coverage in America though.

I also was amazed at the Chinese swimmer who had no arms. He won the 200m Individual Medley. I'm not amazed because he won it without any arms, I'm amazed because it is very hard for any swimmer to do a fast 200m IM just using kick.
 
If I ever get confined to a wheel chair, I'm playing wheel chair rugby! Very different to rugby union/league, but still looks geat fun! :D :D :D :D
 
ExigeExcel
If I ever get confined to a wheel chair, I'm playing wheel chair rugby! Very different to rugby union/league, but still looks geat fun! :D :D :D :D
Click to expand...

you'd better have some monster truck wheels.
 
I'd like to watch the paralympics, but for some reason they only show late at night where I am.:odd:
 
No tv here. I have watched marathons where they had wheelchair race coverage. And a track meet where they had an "exhibition" wheel chair 1500. Also have seen Ironman with amputees. Takes alot of strength. They have to do every part of the race with there arms.
 
These guys and girls are impressive. It takes a lot of strength, both mental and physical, to do that kind of stuff, and they do it better than most people with all their functions intact. I tip my hat to them, and I wish they'd get more recognition, as I see them as the only real athletes competing in the olympics.

Instead of thinking about making golf an Olympic sport, which isn't even close to being a sport, it's a hobby, they could make the paralympic medals count towards the total count, and have the paralympic events under the same roof, at the same time. Not before, not after, during. An athlete's an athlete, even if he's missing an arm or if he's blind.
 
The paralympics are quite spectacular actually..

Just had a thought. Do the 'guides' for the atheletes get medals too? I think they should.. Afterall, without the guide, the disabled athelete wouldn't make it that far, because no one could guide them.
 
halfracedrift
The paralympics are quite spectacular actually..

Just had a thought. Do the 'guides' for the atheletes get medals too? I think they should.. Afterall, without the guide, the disabled athelete wouldn't make it that far, because no one could guide them.
Click to expand...
Yeah, they do. In both the track events and the cycling. 👍
 
I'm told that, because of his low IQ (in the low 80s), thus meeting the classification of learning difficulties/mental disorders, disgraced, drug-assisted Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson would qualify for the Paralympics.
 

Latest Posts

Back