The 2012 Paralympics

The slogan for the 2012 London Paralympic games was ‘Here Come the Superhumans,’ and during the week, we saw some amazing athletes from around the world living up to the hype. It was not only great sport and entertainment, but so inspirational to see these Olympians overcoming their disabilities to go for the gold.

Our first outing was the Athletics on Monday night. We saw a lot of different events, including the Women’s Long Jump F20, and the Women’s and Men’s T54 and T52 400m. The F/T numberings are a classification system that distinguishes different disabilities so athletes are grouped together according to their limitations. For example, F20 means those athletes have some kind of intellectual impairment. The T50’s are spinal cord injuries, or wheelchair races.

The Paralympic Flame 

inside the Athletics Stadium.

One of the craziest events was the Men’s High Jump F42.  F42 means the athletes are missing A LEG. ‘How do you high jump without a leg?’ you may be asking. Well, it was unbelievable. These guys reminded me of the Monopods from Chronicles of Narnia – Voyage of the Dawn Treader. They could jump so high on just one leg! The winner leapt 1.74 meters over the bar to take home the gold… that's almost 6 feet!

Another event I’d never heard of before was blind racing! Many of the runners were so visually impaired that they needed guides to run with them around the track. They basically tied themselves together with these handcuff-looking things and took off! To be that in-sync with someone while sprinting around a track is incredible. It must take so much practice for both runners, let alone the actual training. And when the competitor wins a medal, so does the guide. The next day at the gym, I tried closing my eyes while jogging on the treadmill... not a good idea. I almost wiped out. I thought I was doing all right, but then I opened my eyes to find that I was against the left bar at the very back of the treadmill, about to slide right off! I won’t be trying that again. 

The best part was singing the national anthem for the Americans. During the Olympics, we didn’t get to witness any gold medals for Team USA in-person, but we saw many US winners during the Paralympics. Tatyana McFadden and Raymond Martin both won the 400m wheelchair race. We sang loud and proud both times!

On Wednesday, we headed back to Olympic Park to watch Swimming. 

Again, these people were crazy good! Most of the time, when the swimmers came out to the pool in their sweats, it was hard to tell what their disabilities were, but then they’d take off their sweaters and you’d realize the competitor only had one arm, or they’d remove their pants and pop off their legs! 

To even dive into the pool without any legs must be extremely difficult, let alone swim back and forth. I was on the swim team and a lifeguard for years, and I still can’t swim as fast as them. Not to mention I have both of my legs and arms, and I can see. The hero of the night was a young Ukrainian girl with cerebral palsy who took home the top spot in the 100m breaststroke and set a new Paralympic record.

Teen Ian Silverman from Team USA realizing he won the gold for the S10 (mild form of cerebral palsy that affects his legs) 400m freestyle.  His face in this picture is priceless.

The tickets for the Paralympics were much less expensive than the Olympics and we got to see so much more sport. Whereas our Olympic tickets cost three times as much, they were also only for two-hour slots. When we got to the pool for the Paralympics, we ended up being there for four hours! 

That night after the competition, we visited the Coca-Cola Beat Box. My dad asked if we had done this during our last trip to the park, but we hadn’t so we made the effort to stay late and check it out. It was actually pretty cool. The entire structure is made up of these red bars that play music based on touch or sense. So as you walk through, you are composing the song ‘Anywhere in the World,’ Coke’s theme for London 2012. At the end of the experience, we had our picture taken on the roof in front of the stadium with the Paralympic Torch. And then we wound our way back down to the ground, where the “Future Flames” were putting on a dance show with free drinks. The Flames were really enthusiastic, fun teens that exemplified the idea of inspiring today’s youth in sport. 

On Friday, we had our last event, Wheelchair Basketball at the North Greenwich Arena. When we received our tickets in the mail, we had no idea where North Greenwich Arena was, but then we looked it up and realized it was the O2 arena. 

The funny thing about the Olympics is, if you’re not a sponsor, your name is not going to be ANYWHERE. Inside the park and all stadiums, tape was covering every item that was not paid for by the official London 2012 sponsors. For example, the hand dryers in the bathrooms had white tape over them so you couldn’t see that they were Dysons. The credit card readers had black tape covering their brand. And because O2 wasn’t a sponsor, the O2 arena was temporarily renamed the North Greenwich Arena. So when we exited the tube station, the big sign that points toward the arena was completely covered in white tape. It was pretty ridiculous. 

The first event for Women’s Wheelchair Basketball was the Bronze medal match between the US and the Netherlands. Of course everyone was cheering for the Netherlands, except the Americans. Such haters. Everywhere we went, it was like this. David explained that if we weren’t from the US, we’d probably be fed up with Americans being the best at everything, too, and root for the under-dog. I disagree and it still makes me sad that we’re not liked by anyone. 

Fortunately for everyone else, we lost 47-71. Too many shot clock violations... 

Our £20 tickets were a “heck of a deal!” when we realized we got to stay for the Gold and Silver medal game also! I went for my ancestors, the Germans, while David cheered on the Aussies. These teams were intense. They were ramming into each other, tipping over each other’s chairs left and right. I don’t know how they don’t smash their fingers. The Germans won it for Team Kurzweg and that was the end of our Paralympic outings. 

It’s unfortunate that the Paralympics wasn’t that big of a deal outside London. Talking to our family and friends back home, some of them had never even heard of the Paralympics before, and it definitely wasn’t being broadcast on TV like the Olympics. But if you do get a chance in the future, watch some events because the athletes and their stories will really inspire you. We had a great time and are looking forward to the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics in Rio!