Paralympic News

Final Countdown to London 2012 Paralympics

Paralympic athletes from around the world will begin competing in London 2012 on 29 August next year.

Bank Holiday Monday marked just a year until the event opens, following the Olympic Games which begins on 27 July.

To celebrate the final countdown to the Paralympics, on 8 September London’s Trafalgar Square will host International Paralympic Day, a series of activities showcasing some of the sports that will feature at next year’s Games.

Highlights will include the chance to see triple world record holder and Paralympic gold medallist Oscar Pistorius and to witness a Guinness World Record attempt in Sitting Volleyball.

The International Paralympic Committee will also issue an official invitation to athletes and National Paralympic Committees around the world to participate in the Games next year.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “International Paralympic Day is a great opportunity for people to build-up their knowledge of the different sports that will be showcased at the Paralympic Games. London 2012 will be the biggest Paralympics in history and a chance for people in the UK to really get behind disability sport and Great Britain’s fantastic athletes.”

Applications for tickets to the Paralympic Games will then open from 9 September to 26 September. About two million tickets will be up for grabs across 21 sports including Boccia, swimming and wheelchair rugby. More than half the tickets on sale will be priced at £10 or less and 75 per cent will cost £20 or less.

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New BPA CEO Hollingsworth says 'Our Time is Now' with one year to go to the 2012 Paralympic Games

With just over one year to go until the start of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, new British Paralympic Association Chief Executive Tim Hollingsworth today stated clearly his belief that the Games can offer a moment of real transformation for Paralympic sport in this country.

At a press conference in London with Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee, and David Weir, Beijing Double Gold Medallist, Hollingsworth confirmed the BPA’s ambition to match up to the impressive medal tally of 42 gold medals in Beijing, and target second place in the medal table for London. While competition is increasingly tough in Paralympic sport, with the likes of Australia, Brazil and the Ukraine investing heavily alongside China, home nation support for Paralympic sport into London means that continuing the incredible achievement of finishing second for the fourth Summer Games in succession is achievable.
 
Hollingsworth also made clear his view that the Games must not just be about the performance of the athletes but can also be transformational in terms of wider attitudes and perceptions to disability in the UK. 

He said: “Holding the Paralympic Games can have a profound effect on the host country. That was seen in Beijing where the achievements of people with an impairment, who had once been hidden away, were celebrated by the whole nation, and again in Vancouver, where ice hockey fans sat on their skateboards to play sledge hockey in the streets during the Paralympics. For the young people in Vancouver, this was just a different and uniquely cool way of playing their sport. Crucially they saw past the disability and just saw elite athletes playing a really exciting version of a game they loved.

”Now it’s our turn. We want the great British public to embrace our sports and athletes the way that the Canadians did in Vancouver and the Chinese did in Beijing. We want people to watch our athletes produce their best ever performances, and we are working hard every day to help make this a reality. We want people to see how our athletes are truly parallel to their Olympic counterparts. The Paralympics here in the UK can step out of the shadow of the Olympic Games. Our time is now.

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Wheelchair Tennis invovled with Paralympic Celebrations

Oscar wins World Championship Silver

Oscar Pistorius won a World Championship silver medal without taking part in the 4x400m relay final.

He became the first Paralympian to win an able-bodied world championship medal as all athletes who compete in the heats are eligible to win medals.

South Africa finished behind the United States, recording a time slower than in their heat, when Pistorius took part.

Double amputee Pistorius - who reached the semis of the individual 400m - helped the team qualify third-fastest.

Before the race he had revealed on Twitter: "Haven't been included in final. Pretty gutted."

But afterwards he added: "Well done to the SA 4x400m team. Was really hard watching, knowing I deserved to be part of it."

He said: "Our main focus is to get medals and, based on the facts we received about split times, we decided that LJ van Zyl [who won bronze in the 400m hurdles on Thursday], will run and Oscar will be out."

Van Zyl defended the decision after the final: "We had the agreement before the first round that the slowest guy in the heats on the splits is not going to run the final and I'm going to take his place.

"I've always run the last leg for the last six years. Unfortunately Oscar's split was a 46.2 and he was the unlucky one who had to sit out.

"He's also going to get a medal and I think he's going to be very, very happy. He's only allowed to run the first leg in the relay and he's not the fastest guy out of the blocks. It was a decision by the management and everyone in the team was happy."

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Medal Haul at Europeans

Great Britain swept the boards at the European Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships in Belgium with eight gold medals.

Anne Dunham and Sophie Wells both won two individual titles and were part of the winning team with Emma Sheardown and Deb Criddle.

Criddle also won gold and silver in the individual events while Sheardown won two silvers behind Dunham.

Natasha Baker, who was competing as an individual, also won two golds.

The four team members all put in solid performances over the team test and their individual tests to finish on a score of 444.26% - nearly 14% ahead of silver medallists Denmark with Germany in bronze.

Dunham, who finished the weekend with her 17th gold medal in major competition, got the ball rolling on Teddy scoring 74.95% in the individual Grade Ia event with Sheardown scoring 73.40% on Purdy's Dream to take the top two places.

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Tom rows his way to Gold

Paralympic champion Tom Aggar has won his fourth world title with a dominant display in the arms-only single sculls in Bled, Slovenia.

The 27-year-old won in four minutes 58.01 seconds to continue his five-year unbeaten run at international level.

Alexey Chuvashev of Russia was two seconds behind, with Australia's Erik Horrie third.

Londoner Aggar had already qualified for the London 2012 Paralympic Games by making it to the final.

But he said he expected the competition to get tougher in advance of next summer.

"It was a fairly close race," he said. "Obviously the rest of the guys are improving every year and with the Paralympics next year everyone's going to get hotter again. It was a tough race but I'm pleased to come out on top."

Aggar, who has lowered the world's best time for the event on six occasions, lived up to his billing as favourite with an accomplished row.

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