That's All Folks! - Team GB London Parade

Yesterday, approximately  800 of Team GB's Paralympic and Olympic Athletes paraded through the streets of London on the back of 21 Lorries. They were greeted by hundreds of thousands of people who have watched them compete over the past 6 weeks.
Passionate patriots waited patiently for hours to catch a glimpse of London2012's home team.
The slogan, "Our Greatest Team" displayed on every truck as it past. With a grand total of 185 medals proudly hung round the athletes necks, they really have been our most successful Team to date!

The Part of the Parade nearest to where our AbilityNet Office is based was near St. Paul's Cathedral.
We turned up rather too late to get a prime spot for viewing the sporting heroes. 
Although there was mass of spectators all desperately tip-toeing to get a better view, 
the crowd was calm, friendly and excited. 

Team GB came 3rd on the medal boards of both sets of games, with Great Britain's Paralympians scooping 120 medals alone. There are more opportunities for medals in the Paralympics, because of the different classifications within each sport, but this also means more competition. 







Here are the total of medals won at London2012:

Olympics:       Gold : 29  Silver: 17   Bronze: 19      Total = 65
Paralympics:  Gold : 34  Silver : 43  Bronze:  43     Total = 120

The parade started at 1:30pm at Mansion House in East London. The route ran parallel with the path of the Thames before veering along the edge of St James’s Park.  It ended up at the Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace. Thousands of people filled the Mall once again.

Photo from Yahoo/EuroSport 

Speeches were made to congratulate everyone who had taken part in making the London 2012 Games what they were, the Athletes, Armed Forces, Police, Volunteers etc.
There was a flypast over Buckingham Palace,which included the golden plane which initially bought over the Olympic flame and a military tribute with streams of colour; red, white and blue,
The roar of the planes could be heard for miles around.

2012 has been a year of celebrating National Pride. Something which isn't always painted in a good light. For many people who were initially cynical about the games, and the whole Olympics experience, most had a complete change of heart once the Games began. 

There is no doubt in my mind that seeing our Athletes compete so spectacularly on the world's stage, will encourage many people to take up sports, if not inspire them to want to get into Team GB's 2016 squad for the Games in Rio.

The Paralympics especially has been a show case for what people can do , as apposed to what they cant.  

We've had a great time putting together this blog during the Games.
We hope you have found it informative and enjoyed it as much as we have making it.

Keep an eye out for future blogs and join us on our Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/AbilityNet

A Day at the Paralympic Athletics!

On Friday 31st of August, i was privileged enough to go and watch the Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London.
This was only Day 2 of the London2012 Games, and already i witnessed many new World Records, Paralympic Records and Personal Bests for the Athletes.

Here is a diary for my day at the Games:

5:30am- Alarm clock- SNOOZE.
5:35am - Get up out of bed and rush to get ready, to catch the Bus at 6:10am.
I met my parents at St Pancras Station and got the Javelin Train to Stratford where the Olympic Stadium is.
We had tickets to see the morning session of Athletics on Day 2 of the Paralympic Games. The Session itself started at 10am, however, we wished to see the Olympic Park before it got too busy.

8:00am We were greeted by friendly and helpful staff as we entered the park. We then had to proceed through "Airport" style security.
The Sun was Bright as we walked towards the Orbit tower, where most importantly for that time in the morning, the Tea is located.

I order a Chamomile Tea and what I think is a White Chocolate Muffin. As we have turned up nice and early there is somewhere to sit and drink our tea underneath the Orbit with the London Skyline in the distance.
Turns out the tea is something weird and herbal and the muffin is, in fact, banoffee.

After Tea we start to investigate the park. The Park is very well organised and has lots oh help points, mobility areas, plenty of toilet facilities (which my small bladdered brother took advantage of) and food of all kinds.
Next we visited the Gift Shop. The Floor is painted like the track with numbered lanes and there is wall to wall merchandise.
My Uncle bought me a London2012 Paralympics Athletics souvenir t-shirt. All the shirts are well made and designed. They were sold out of Extra Small, So i guess i will grow into mine eventually!

After purchasing the souvenirs we headed to the stadium!

The Stadium can seat 80,000! It really is that huge.
As we had turned up before the morning session, we took full advantage of taking tourist photos of the stadium.
The lights that panned around the seats during the opening ceremonies were made by little paddles that are attached to the seats by a coiled cable. Each paddle is fitted with about 9 L.E.Ds. 





The other half of the stadium was bathed is sun light whilst the side we were on was in the shade. This was probably more beneficial for a perfect view of the athletics, but was freezing! We were seated fairly close to the Paralympic Torch, which didn't provide as much heat as i would have liked! I was regretting not buying a souvenir blanket! 
The Paralympic Flame has 166  petals, each representing a country competing at the Games.

The Events for that day were:
- Men's Club Throw: F31, F32 and F51 Final
- Women's 5000m - T54 Round 1
- Women's Long Jump - F37/38
- Women's Discus Throw: F35 & F36 Final
- Men's Shot Put- F42 and F44 Final
- Men's 400m - T13 Round 1
- Men's 1500m - T11 Round 1
- Men's 200m T37 Round 1
- Women's 200m T46 Round 1
- Women's 100m T34 Round 1

The roar and excitement of the crowd in the events where Team GB were taking part was breath taking.
Aled Davies won GB's first Medal in Athletics with a Bronze in the F42-44 Shot Put.
Hannah Cockroft was so far ahead of any of the other competitors in the heats of the Women's 100m T34. She then went on to receive gold in the evening session:

All the events were taking place at staggered start times but were all going on at the same time.
With up to 6 sports to see, you could pick which ever you wanted to watch, or dip in and out.
I was a little worried at one point, as the Brazilian Discus Thrower had crossed over the track to talk to her coach, and wasn't paying attention to the 5000m Wheelchair racers that were hurtling toward her. She managed to get out of the way in time! 

The T11 Runners ran with Guides who have to be evenly matched with the athletes. It was really a great to witness a once in a lifetime  experience. I was really surprised at the friendly and relaxed atmosphere. The Stadium was completely full with people cheering on all the athletes.

A great day out at the races :)

Womens Long Jump

Men's T13 400m Race