Let the Games Begin

On Wednesday, the Opening Ceremony will mark the start of the world’s second largest sporting event in London the Paralympic Games. With games organisers estimating that only 100,000 tickets remain, the Paralympics is on course for its first sell out games.

I was interested to read comments made by Sir Philip Craven, President of International Paralympic Committee, in the Observer last Sunday, who suggested that the word disabled should be dropped from Paralympic coverage.

Sir Philip is right of course but it is hard to ignore the remarkable stories of some of the athletes as to how they became Paralympians and is understandable why most of the media are focusing on the human aspect. Just this morning for example, some of the press are devoting double page spreads on some of the personal stories of members of Team GB.

Once the games start there will be many athletes competing like Lady Tanni Grey-Thompson, Britain’s first disabled sports superstar, who in her own words during a radio broadcast this morning, said that grew up a normal middle class home with a sports background and didn’t have a remarkable story to tell.

For the 11 days of competition Britain and London will be back to its welcoming best. Much has been spoken regarding legacy of the Olympic Games but if there is one legacy which I hope remains from these Paralympics will be an end to the shocking rise last year of recorded disability hate crime in this country.