2008 Olympics Updates

Having competed at the last five Paralympic Games it will be a new experience for me to be a spectator in Beijing. However, as a commentator I will still be close to the action and be able to speak to the team each day.

Trying to pick out ones to watch from the incredibly strong British swimming team is difficult.

Just to qualify onto the team you had to be ranked at least sixth in the world and it is a team that topped the medal table at the 2006 IPC World Championships.

There will be some familiar faces in Beijing who seem sure to medal - swimmers such as Sascha Kindred, Nyree Lewis, David Roberts, Jim Anderson and Natalie Jones.

However 45% of the team are first time Paralympians and they are likely to be in the mix too.

The GB swimming team have maintained their success for the same reasons cycling and sailing were so successful at the Olympics - funding, planning, attention to detail and focused athletes and staff.

Since the release of National Lottery funding to cover more than just capital projects, British Swimming has been able to invest in the development of talented athletes.

Simply throwing money at something will only get you so far. Team members like current head coach Lars Humer focus on getting all of the detail right all of the time and this doesn’t happen by chance.

There will already be a four-year plan in place to move the team on far beyond Beijing.

As with most sports, the athletes put in all the hard work required to get into physical shape but here there is a real sense of team in the broader sense.

Each component of the support team from strength and conditioning to sports psychology, from sports science to the office admin support, everyone is focused and passionate about helping the swimmers be the best they can be.

However, the British team will not have it all their own way. Ukraine has a very strong team of predominantly visually-impaired swimmers and, with stars like Erin Popovich and Jessica Long, the USA will accumulate a substantial medal haul.

Few swimmers will be as dominant as South Africa’s Natalie Du Toit in the women’s S9 events and of course there will be a very strong team representing the host nation China.

There are a couple of races that I am particularly looking forward to.

The Men’s 34-point freestyle relay is always very exciting and although GB won gold in both Sydney and Athens they are likely to be pushed very hard by Australia, with Matt Cowdrey leading the charge.

However, my pick for the entire competition would be the Men’s S8 400m freestyle which will be on 12 September.

It will feature Britain’s Sam Hynd, who is the world record holder for the event and, despite it being his first Games, he will be favourite.

He will face one of the most talented swimmers in the world Xiaofu Wang who will have the home crowd behind him. It is sure to be an exciting contest.

Just a small part of me is envious of this year’s Paralympic swimmers. To race in such a beautiful pool like the Water Cube will be an incredible experience for them.

Thankfully, the larger part of me has come to terms with the fact that my time as an athlete has been and gone and now I can just enjoy commentating on their endeavours.

It’s been a frantic seven days since I left the (relative) calm shores of the UK, flying out of Heathrow on the way to the Beijing Paralympics.

First stop: Hong Kong

Here, some of the British team were fine-tuning their preparations. Over the next few days, my plan was to film interviews with the squads in HK and Macau.

When we landed, it was encouraging to find my wheelchair was still in one piece and promptly available. Paralympic signs were up, officials were organised (and helpful) - within 45 minutes of touching down I had my accreditation and my luggage, and was arriving at the hotel!

As at the Olympics, Hong Kong is the venue for the equestrian events. As I arrived the Paralympic banners were being hoisted.

I stayed at the same hotel as a number of the GB athletes. It was good to catch up with some of my old table tennis colleagues, including Arnie Chan and Neil Robinson. Neil is taking part in his seventh Paralympic Games, and hasn’t aged!

But it’s also good to see some new faces in the squad, including 20-year-old Tunbridge Wells player Will Bayley.

The wheelchair racers were also in town - one of the fastest mondo tracks had been located in a suburb of the city.

My only real Chinese meal during my stay was at a small place in the square near the hotel - beef, rice, vegetables and Chinese tea cost me a mere 26 Hk dollars (£1.50). And having realised that I forgot to pack some toothpaste, I found I could get some next door for the same price!

I didn’t see much of HK, apart from Kowloon, where the Star Ferry takes you around the port, but the sight of those amazing skyscrapers and the hustle and bustle of the city is amazing to see.

Within 48 hours it was off to Macau.

This is where most of the GB squad were preparing.

I thought it would be a straightforward ferry crossing, but the taxi driver took me to the wrong port!

All my negotiating skills were needed to get swapped back to the correct ferry - however they were excellent and even gave me a 20 dollar refund.

I was joined by cameraman Steve Pook and reporter Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes, who has been covering the Olympic equestrian events for BBC Radio 5 Live.

Macau is something completely different, the gambling world of the East - but a dollar wasn’t wasted during my stay.

Sunday and Monday were a haze of filming at training venues and at the team hotel.

After a long day in Macau we jumped on the ferry back to HK, wherewe loaded the footage onto Steve’s laptop. The next day the first preview would be transmitted on Sport 24.

Tuesday morning was another early start. We went across town to catch up with Dave Weir and the wheelchair racers, who were training in blistering heat and humid conditions.

Dave is in good form ahead of the Games and he can’t wait to start competing in the Bird’s Nest, where he has already raced in May.

Seven days after leaving London, we’re now in Beijing and it’s full-on in the International Broadcast Centre. The world’s media are starting to descend on what I’m sure will be a compelling 13th Paralympics.

The Paralympic movement has come a long way between the first International Games at Stoke Mandeville, which began 60 years ago today, and the Paralympic Games, which start in Beijing on 6 September.

Developments are constantly being made on and off the playing fields and in the way the events are covered by the media.

Back in 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a neurologist who was working with World War II veterans with spinal injuries at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, began using sport as a vital part of the rehabilitation programmes of his patients. These became known as the Stoke Mandeville Games.

A milestone event took place in July 1948, when Guttmann established a competition for patients with spinal injuries to coincide with the London Olympic Games. Sixteen paralysed British ex-servicemen and women took part in an archery competition.

Since then the “Parallel Olympics” have become the pinnacle of international competition for disabled athletes. The name derives from the Greek “para” (”beside” or “alongside”) and refers to a competition held in parallel with the Olympic Games - no relation with paralysis or paraplegia was intended.

The first official Paralympics were held in Rome in 1960 and it has grown in strength since then.

At the end of August, the “Test Event” (as the Olympics are known in Paralympic circles) finishes and we can look ahead to the 13th Paralympics.

People often ask why the Paralympics are not scheduled before the Olympics.

In Athens four years ago and now in Beijing we have seen the answer - the host organisers clearly would have struggled for different reasons to ensure that the Paralympics would be ready in time.

I have been involved with disability sport and the Paralympic movement for many years and each Games creates a tremendous buzz and excitement in the build-up.

My first involvement came many years ago as an international wheelchair table tennis player.

Although ranked in the top three in the country for quite a few years and being able to compete at World and European Championships, selection for GB to participate in the Paralympics just eluded me.

The first time BBC Sport covered the Paralympics in depth was in 1980 when, along with producer Jeff Goddard and the legendary Welsh rugby player and broadcaster Cliff Morgan, I covered the Games in Arnhem.

After that it was time to concentrate on my business career within the BBC working across Drama, Sport, Finance HQ, Documentaries and back to Sport and it was not until Sydney in 2000 when I resumed Paralympic duties.

Although I was not in Sydney, with the time difference, there was a critical role to play in London to ensure that across radio and online our listeners were kept in touch with all the news and action from a tremendous Games for Team GB.

Athens proved to be a successful Paralympics, both in terms of GB medals and the BBC coverage. BBC Sport was later recognised with an award from the International Paralympic Committee as the best international broadcaster from the Games.

That led to me going out to China on behalf of the department to receive the award and experiencing for the first time the culture of China.

British Paralympic legend Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and I spent some time wheeling around the streets of Beijing, and then there weren’t many disabled people visible.

It will be interesting to see whether the attitudes of the Chinese people have changed in the past few years and I honestly hope that the real legacy of the Paralympics will see much better access and acceptance of disabled people throughout China.

One of the first benefits of the Games coming to China is improved access to two of the best known historic monuments.

Tourists with a disability from all over the world will now have much better access to Beijing’s most famous Forbidden City and parts of the Great Wall following extensive renovations.

As we get nearer to the Games media interest has heightened and a real multimedia approach is driving us forward.

The catalyst this year was back in May with the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, of which BBC Sport transmitted two hours of live coverage.

There has been real interest across all outlets with international stories surrounding South Africans Oscar Pistorius and Natalie Du Toit bringing Paralympic sport to the forefront of the sporting news.

With some prompting, programmes across the BBC are ensuring that they are covering both Olympic and Paralympic stories in unison.

I am sure the Beijing Paralympics will be a successful but very challenging Games for broadcasters, but it is one that we are looking forward to.

Listen to The Parallel Games on BBC Radio 5 Live at 2000 BST on Monday, or for the following seven days on BBC iPlayer.

A team of 11 archers will represent Great Britain at the Paralympic Games in Beijing in September and I would happily wager a few quid that they will not be returning home from China empty handed.

You could not wish to meet a more pleasant group. They really are an inspiring bunch , and in Tim Hazell they have an excellent coach. It’s always a pleasure to be in their company, and they always make me feel very welcome.

But, delightful people though they may be, they are also very determined. There was no great celebration when the squad was announced, just a steely determination all around the room that achieving selection was only the start - all of them are focussed on being successful. And success means medals.

Kathy Critchlow Smith, from Oxford, knows a thing or two about medals. She’s won four of them - a gold, two silver and a bronze - at four previous Paralympic Games, and at 59 is still very much at the top of her game.

Kathy is one of only two in the team to have featured at the Paralympics before.

The other is John Cavanagh, from London, who won an individual gold medal in Athens four years ago and will be attending his third Games.

So that means nine first-timers, and among them there are some inspirational stories.

Like John Stubbs, for instance. John’s from Warrington, and after a road traffic accident in his early 20s he was twice given the last rites.

As a result of the accident, he lost a leg, but was determined not to wallow in self pity, and decided if that was the card that life handed him, he would make the most of it.

“I found solace in sport,” he told me. “I used to play cricket, so after the accident I found disabled cricket and represented England. But then I got involved with archery, and I realised that archery was for me.

“Despite all that’s happened, I can honestly say I wouldn’t change any part of my life. Perhaps everything happens for a reason, and being involved with archery has been fantastic.

“Nobody can take away what I’ve achieved, and going to the Paralympics in Beijing will be the pinnacle of my achievement so far.”

Kay Lucas, from Ludlow, had done archery years ago, but it took a serious injury in a car accident to inspire her to take up the sport once again. She started entering competitions and realised she was actually pretty good.

“I see people walking around wearing football shirts with the squad number of their favourite player, and I think to myself I have my own shirt, with my own name on it, and I’ve worked very hard for that,” she says.

“I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved, and immensely grateful for all the support I’ve had, and I am totally focussed on winning a medal in Beijing. Going to the Paralympics is a dream come true, but being there will be only part of the experience.”

There are stories like Kay’s and John’s throughout the squad.

Mike Karaphilides, from Luton, was born with spina bifida and proves that being in a wheelchair does not stop you enjoying an active sporting life. Mike is going to his first Paralympics as an archer - but his third in all, having represented his country at swimming and athletics in the past!

Fred Stephens, 62, from Hinckley in Leicestershire, was a businessman and always active before an industrial accident left him paralysed from the waist down.

“I never for one minute dreamt I’d represent my country at a major international sporting event, it’s wonderful,” he said.

And then there’s Mick Beard, from Cornwall, who proves yet again the power of the media. Mick enjoyed following Larry Godfrey’s progress in the archery tournament at the Athens Olympics.

Larry finished fourth, and Mick watched the highlights of the bronze medal match on television, and then decided he’d like to give archery a go himself.

Although he can stand up and walk without aid, Mick suffered an industrial injury a few years ago. He slipped a disc, which cut through his spinal disc. “I was paralysed down right hand side, and I’m still numb down that side.”

When he first started archery he admits he’d never heard of the Paralympics. Now he is going to be taking part in them. “And I’m not going to China as a sightseer,” he said.

Lynne Burton, from Chelmsford, qualified despite being hospitalised after complications arising from a liver transplant.

“I became disabled in 2000 as a side effect of transplantation. My feeling was that I have a transplant to have a life, and being in a wheelchair shouldn’t stop me having a life!”

And last but not least, may I introduce you to the women’s compound team - or The Three Degrees, as I call them.

In Danielle Brown from Skipton, Mel Clarke of Norwich, and Pippa Britton from Newport, Britain can claim three of the best archers of their division in the world.

As a team they are unbeatable, and individually they will almost certainly be rivals for the gold medal. But their attitude is first class.

“We’re a team and we’re friends,” said Pippa. “If we compete against each other, we compete to win, and once one of us loses then we cheer on the others.”

They are a fantastic bunch of people. They will do us proud in Beijing. And I feel privileged to be their cheerleader in chief!

(BEIJING, May 22) – When the Beijing Paralympic Games open on September 7, an unprecedented cast of 400 people with hearing disabilities will perform a dance entitled “Greetings to Stars,” chief director Zhang Jigang told the press recently.
The opening ceremony, he said, will sing the praises of “creativity, humanity and great [...]