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feather_ghyllIs the gap between the Olympics and Paralympics always this long? I kept expecting the Paralympic games to start before they did. Although I worried about not being able to watch as much of the second half as the first, I got to see most of the action I wanted. I ended up watching the morning and early afternoon sessions (our time) of Paralympics Live on catch-up on All4. As a result, I was always at least a few hours behind, but it allowed me to fast forward. I wasn’t that interested in team sports, and mainly watched races, especially in paraswimming and parathletics.
I can, apparently, watch sprints over and over, and the way the swimmers and athletes deal with different impairments is endlessly fascinating. For these games there was the added uncertainty of how the extra year and the past 18 months, with few chances to compete as well as changes to training, had affected the competitors. Further to tat, some countries – either because of the lack of official competition or due to tactics – hadn’t posted their recent times. A lot of records got broken (even when the weather turned in the Olympics stadium.)
My sense was that Channel 4 had more people out in Tokyo than the BBC did at the Olympics, with a couple of holdovers from the Olympics. I think Channel 4 did even better at getting to talk to the families, which ties into telling individuals’ stories, and it’s heartening that as well as already established Paralympians, there were new, young people, who comported themselves very well. Some of the expert commentators were athletes who would have hoped to go to Tokyo, but couldn’t – Alice Tighe (sp?) could offer the insight of someone who has swum alongside the paraswimmers, although Liz Johnson had a broader view of what was going on.
So, I think the swimming and athletics commentators were still in the UK, but there were sport-specific presenters in Tokyo, so people who had competed could then join them as talking heads. Steff Reid offered a lot of insight, Lauren Steadman was good at responding to what Leigh Mackenzie needed, and Tanni Grey-Thompson also gave a sense of the history and politics. I enjoyed the fact that there were so many women.
There were also A LOT of photo finishes (ironically, some for the races with visually impaired athletes.) It was good that so many events were competitive. I sometimes wished that we could get more regular info about athletes’ ages, although there are some disciplines/impairments where it doesn’t seem to matter so much, but it would have given more context to the sometimes unrealistic expectation that every champion from Rio could defend their gold five years later.
It’s hard to gauge whether Channel 4 is still the pre-eminent broadcaster – I have no idea how big the Paralympics were in Japan, because the crowds were athletes and coaches, being as loud as possible. They like tweaking the USA and boasting about the medal tally, which was far better than in the Olympics. China obviously performed as you’d expect the biggest country in the world to, although one didn’t really get a sense of their athletes as individuals, and with the legacy of Beijing Games on its disability sports programme continuing. With the UK, it’s hard to tell whether it’s the London legacy – although that seemed to be the case for some parathletes – or the UK’s involvement in the start of the Paralympic movement. (Note I say UK, it always struck me as weird when they lobbed about ‘GB’ when they were talking about Bethany Firth who is from Belfast, and maybe a couple of others.) There was talk of gaps in some diciplines/classifications. But I wondered whether some of the games’ programming had an eye to what would work for Channel 4.
There was also a bit of a tension about parochialism and celebrating the whole Paralympics. I can mainly speak for the sports that I followed most closely, but they did give some attention to races where big names, who weren’t British, competed – and if you like athletics, you’ll enjoy seeing someone excel. I found I was able to get more excited than tense when a race was competitive. Was that less apparent in other sports?
.
At the same time, there was a tension between this focus on medals – and it was nice when they turned the logo gold, and absolutely understandable that they wanted to celebrate each and every British gold medal and the pressure of expectations. It was clear from different people’s response to a silver or bronze (or even coming fourth) that there was going to be an individual response. When some people disclosed injury or worse – Ellie Robinson’s revelation about her hip and the pain she’d been in – it tied into recent high profile discussions of mental health and elite able-bodied sport, but also the downsides of what is an understandable narrative that’s built up around the Paralympic movement, especially here in the UK. There was a bit of a relentless message to get your disabled kids to try out disability sports so that they can be future medallists. Jocks are jocks, whether they have disabilities or not! But surely just trying it out for fitness, well-being and confidence are valid. Having said that, a lot of the Paralympians were articulate and engaging, clearly aware of having a platform and wanting to use it for good. (I was genuinely touched to learn that Jonny Peacock has gone to visit hospital wards and had a positive impact on how children perceive their disability, and amputation specifically, and what they can do in their lives.)
But as with the Olympics, whenever anyone thanked National Lottery players, I snorted, because I doubt they’re gambling out of the generosity of their hearts. And I also don’t know how else disability sports structures are to target funding other than by what’s in these and future games and who are realistic prospects of doing well. But that clearly can lead to undue pressure.
Like the Olympics, it was gruelling on the presenters. I don’t know how many hours Claire Balding put in or how many different families and medallists she had to interview. So, you could forgive the commentators some mistakes – even if you were confused by their getting a name or classification wrong. As with the Olympics, I’m glad it got put on. I hope that nobody’s health was too badly damaged because of it.
Tanni Grey-Thompson’s overview of the Paralympics Games can be found here.
I can, apparently, watch sprints over and over, and the way the swimmers and athletes deal with different impairments is endlessly fascinating. For these games there was the added uncertainty of how the extra year and the past 18 months, with few chances to compete as well as changes to training, had affected the competitors. Further to tat, some countries – either because of the lack of official competition or due to tactics – hadn’t posted their recent times. A lot of records got broken (even when the weather turned in the Olympics stadium.)
My sense was that Channel 4 had more people out in Tokyo than the BBC did at the Olympics, with a couple of holdovers from the Olympics. I think Channel 4 did even better at getting to talk to the families, which ties into telling individuals’ stories, and it’s heartening that as well as already established Paralympians, there were new, young people, who comported themselves very well. Some of the expert commentators were athletes who would have hoped to go to Tokyo, but couldn’t – Alice Tighe (sp?) could offer the insight of someone who has swum alongside the paraswimmers, although Liz Johnson had a broader view of what was going on.
So, I think the swimming and athletics commentators were still in the UK, but there were sport-specific presenters in Tokyo, so people who had competed could then join them as talking heads. Steff Reid offered a lot of insight, Lauren Steadman was good at responding to what Leigh Mackenzie needed, and Tanni Grey-Thompson also gave a sense of the history and politics. I enjoyed the fact that there were so many women.
There were also A LOT of photo finishes (ironically, some for the races with visually impaired athletes.) It was good that so many events were competitive. I sometimes wished that we could get more regular info about athletes’ ages, although there are some disciplines/impairments where it doesn’t seem to matter so much, but it would have given more context to the sometimes unrealistic expectation that every champion from Rio could defend their gold five years later.
It’s hard to gauge whether Channel 4 is still the pre-eminent broadcaster – I have no idea how big the Paralympics were in Japan, because the crowds were athletes and coaches, being as loud as possible. They like tweaking the USA and boasting about the medal tally, which was far better than in the Olympics. China obviously performed as you’d expect the biggest country in the world to, although one didn’t really get a sense of their athletes as individuals, and with the legacy of Beijing Games on its disability sports programme continuing. With the UK, it’s hard to tell whether it’s the London legacy – although that seemed to be the case for some parathletes – or the UK’s involvement in the start of the Paralympic movement. (Note I say UK, it always struck me as weird when they lobbed about ‘GB’ when they were talking about Bethany Firth who is from Belfast, and maybe a couple of others.) There was talk of gaps in some diciplines/classifications. But I wondered whether some of the games’ programming had an eye to what would work for Channel 4.
There was also a bit of a tension about parochialism and celebrating the whole Paralympics. I can mainly speak for the sports that I followed most closely, but they did give some attention to races where big names, who weren’t British, competed – and if you like athletics, you’ll enjoy seeing someone excel. I found I was able to get more excited than tense when a race was competitive. Was that less apparent in other sports?
.
At the same time, there was a tension between this focus on medals – and it was nice when they turned the logo gold, and absolutely understandable that they wanted to celebrate each and every British gold medal and the pressure of expectations. It was clear from different people’s response to a silver or bronze (or even coming fourth) that there was going to be an individual response. When some people disclosed injury or worse – Ellie Robinson’s revelation about her hip and the pain she’d been in – it tied into recent high profile discussions of mental health and elite able-bodied sport, but also the downsides of what is an understandable narrative that’s built up around the Paralympic movement, especially here in the UK. There was a bit of a relentless message to get your disabled kids to try out disability sports so that they can be future medallists. Jocks are jocks, whether they have disabilities or not! But surely just trying it out for fitness, well-being and confidence are valid. Having said that, a lot of the Paralympians were articulate and engaging, clearly aware of having a platform and wanting to use it for good. (I was genuinely touched to learn that Jonny Peacock has gone to visit hospital wards and had a positive impact on how children perceive their disability, and amputation specifically, and what they can do in their lives.)
But as with the Olympics, whenever anyone thanked National Lottery players, I snorted, because I doubt they’re gambling out of the generosity of their hearts. And I also don’t know how else disability sports structures are to target funding other than by what’s in these and future games and who are realistic prospects of doing well. But that clearly can lead to undue pressure.
Like the Olympics, it was gruelling on the presenters. I don’t know how many hours Claire Balding put in or how many different families and medallists she had to interview. So, you could forgive the commentators some mistakes – even if you were confused by their getting a name or classification wrong. As with the Olympics, I’m glad it got put on. I hope that nobody’s health was too badly damaged because of it.
Tanni Grey-Thompson’s overview of the Paralympics Games can be found here.
