The Paralympics - London 2012

[werty]

I don't know whether the Brazilian's blades give him an advantage over Pistorius, but he came from absolutely nowhere. I don't think I've ever seen anyone come from that far behind to win a 200m of any kind. Same with the women's 100m just after that as well, the Dutch girl who came second had an absolutely awful start and was last after the first 20m, then utterly stormed through and nipped second on the line. Her blades looked similar to Oliveira's, although as I said, I don't know sufficient about blade design/technology to judge.

Also, David Weir was absolutely fantastic tonight.

I don't really know much about the blades myself, but the reason why the dutch girl has a poor start was because of the blades rather than just a poor start itself. All the other women had one "good" leg which is why they got ahead at the start and didn't have the acceleration or the ability to maintain their speed at the end. The advantage at the end must be the same as the disadvantage they have out of the blocks. I think the Brazilian fella had an equally slow start too but then obviously built up the speed and caught Pistorius.

The best comeback had to be from the British guy the other day in his 200m final. It took him about 90/100m to get to the same speed as eveyone else and he completely destroyed them after that.

 

[nightgoat]

Was she the only one? I don't remember. About half the field in Pistorius' race were double amputees, the other half single.

Although the race in that video looks like a mix of amputations above and below the knee. How much difference that makes on the competition I'm not sure.

 

[DuDe]

The best comeback had to be from the British guy the other day in his 200m final. It took him about 90/100m to get to the same speed as eveyone else and he completely destroyed them after that.

Indeed, it looks kinda surreal.

 

[Misfit]

Whitehead always runs like that. It's a consequence of having virtually no legs at all. Needs to slowly wind up but his top speed is unreal. He's snapped his blades before in races, apparently. The power he can generate is frightening.

Anyways, nice to see some drama and sniping. This is sport after all. Can't all be luvvy duvvy.

 

[nightgoat]

I suppose there's going to be a grey area in something like that, though. For example, Usain Bolt has a height advantage of six inches over Yohan Blake, so naturally has a longer stride. With someone like Pistorius who had his amputation before he was a year old there's going to be an element of speculation about how tall he would have grown and how long his stride would be. Say for example someone who is 6'6 at 21 suffers injuries that require a double amputation, surely it is only right that their blades are allowed to replicate their height and stride prior to their injury?

 

[Misfit]

I suppose there's going to be a grey area in something like that, though. For example, Usain Bolt has a height advantage of six inches over Yohan Blake, so naturally has a longer stride. With someone like Pistorius who had his amputation before he was a year old there's going to be an element of speculation about how tall he would have grown and how long his stride would be. Say for example someone who is 6'6 at 21 suffers injuries that require a double amputation, surely it is only right that their blades are allowed to replicate their height and stride prior to their injury?

Not really. They measure your bones as a newborn and get to within an inch or 2 90% of the time. Especially as an adult, it's easy enough to do, even less room for doubt etc.

I don't see the problem myself. If the rules allow it, then just get on with it. I can see why Pistorius would be pissed though. Yrs of hard work down the drain and if the guy is 3 or 4 inches taller than he rightly should be, it's a bit grating. It's not like Usain can stretch or contract the length of his legs at will after all.

As for you 6'6" example. Of course you're correct. The point Pistorius is trying to make is that this guy is more like 6'9"-6'10" now with these blades and not his pre-injury 6'6"

 

[nightgoat]

That's kind of what I was getting at. No one can say Bolt's jacked himself up a couple of inches to gain an unfair advantage. Sure his height gives him an advantage, but that's just how it is. Unfortunately when technology becomes involved there will always be scope for abuse and skepticism.

 

[Misfit]

Ah right, mis-read that earlier. My mistake. Bloody work getting in the way again.

Pistorius looked he'd just eaten a turd sandwich at the medal ceremony apparently. 400m should be epic.

 

[CosmicHotspur]

Either the rules need to be changed or they are fine as they are. I believe the amount of stumps an athlete has makes a difference to the length of blades allowed and this race was according to the current rules.

The Brazilian who won the race has virtually no stumps.

There's always going to be some controversy and this one is going to be difficult to change.

 

[werty]

Eat your heart out Seb Coe. McKillop does what he couldn't and won both middle distance races. Just a shame that it isn't been shown on any Irish channels.

 

[nightgoat]

Poor old Gideon got booed.

 

[Misfit]

Eat your heart out Seb Coe. McKillop does what he couldn't and won both middle distance races. Just a shame that it isn't been shown on any Irish channels.

Really impressive. The absolute class of the field. Nobody could live with him in either race. Nice interview as well. Are the likes of Smyth et al getting coverage after their triumphs though?

 

[AW?]

Feel sorry for the Brazilian dude. He looked quite a big guy in terms of his torso anyway and it's not like he was a giant above the rest in the race.

 

[werty]

Really impressive. The absolute class of the field. Nobody could live with him in either race. Nice interview as well. Are the likes of Smyth et al getting coverage after their triumphs though?

They are in the papers, but not as much as the Olypians were, although that's kinda expected. Smyth was on the front page of Sunday's paper and I'd imagine McKillop will be tomorrow. There's been some mention of them in the sport part of the news, but not a whole lot. RTE, who had coverage of all the Olympics from the first events in the morning to 10:30 at night and is probably the main broadcaster of sport out of the Irish channels, isn't showing any action live and don't have any highlight shows. None of the other Irish channels have it either. It's a shame they aren't getting the coverage they deserve. Thankfully Channel 4 are giving them similar coverage to the British athletes.

 

[Misfit]

They are in the papers, but not as much as the Olypians were, although that's kinda expected. Smith was on the front page of Sunday's paper and I'd imagine McKillop will be tomorrow. There's been some mention of them in the sport part of the news, but not a whole lot. RTE, who had coverage of all the Olympics from the first events in the morning to 10:30 at night and is probably the main broadcaster of sport out of the Irish channels, isn't showing any action live and don't have any highlight shows. None of the other Irish channels have it either. It's a shame they aren't getting the coverage they deserve. Thankfully Channel 4 are giving them similar coverage to the British athletes.

Yeah, it's good to see them. You've got some genuine superstars there. Hope Smyth makes it to the European champs again. Looks like he can go under 10 seconds soon.

 

[werty]

It would be great if he qualified for the World Champs next year. He only missed out in the Olympic qualifying time by .09 seconds I think, so it definitely something he can do. You probably heard them say yesterday that he trains with Tyson Gay and Gay said he technique is flawless. Training with Gay will only make him go quicker.

 

[Misfit]

Yep. Gay thinks he amongst the 5 most natural sprinters he's ever seen. One talented boy. I mean, he's just a couple of tenths off running times to seriously contend for medals in champs not involving the Jamaicans. There was a nice interview with him on one of the run-up progs to the games. Interesting to hear about the difficulties of running the bend in the 200m.

 

[CosmicHotspur]

On another subject, although I live with a partner who had a stroke some years back which has resulted in left side body weakness, some difficulty walking and a useless arm and hand which have withered and which I've grown very used to, I've also become acclimatised and used to seeing all kinds of other disabilities which I might once have found it difficult to look at.

No-one wants to lose limbs or suffer illnesses or diseases which prevent them from living what we think of as "normal" lives but if we can more easily regard and treat people with disabilities the same way as we treat people without them, this Paralympics which has had so much publicity and coverage, has had a wonderfully positive effect - certainly on me.

Watching the athletes perform and hearing and seeing them being interviewed has shone a light on them as amazing and resilient human beings being given the opportunity of achieving great things against the odds.

I hope that doesn't come across as condescending in any way because that's certainly not my intention and not how I feel at all.

 

[Col_M]

Why has no one mentioned Ellie Symmonds' second gold? She may be small but she's a giant talent!

 

[CosmicHotspur]

Why has no one mentioned Ellie Symmonds' second gold? She may be small but she's a giant talent!

She's fantastic and her second gold postbox will be in Swansea, where she trains and went to school.