![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllDay eight: for me this involved swimming and athletics mainly, with some table tennis and basketball. The presenters had switched for a day, due to French labour laws, meaning Leigh Mackenzie was covering swimming with Ellie Robinson (a good team), and J.J. Chalmers anchoring in the evening from the Stade de France, with nearly the same experts, although it was a good job they’d brought in someone who knew about throwing. Chalmers seemed a bit exhausted by the end.
Katherine Debrunner (sp?) responded to Sammy Kinghorn daring to win the 100m in their classification by bossing the 400m, so Kinghorn returned to a silver, but seemed rather pleased with it. In the pool, they put the gold medal around Rebecca Redfern’s neck before the race started, but the commentators made it sound like it would be a closer race. In the end, she did win. But the S8 50m race involving Alice Tai was a genuinely close race, and her reaction, not really sure she’d won until a competitor told her (she wears specs) and continued surprise were very attractive. Her story, that she’d been racing the 400m the previous day, which requires a different technique, and that she had decided to have an amputation for quality of life and adapt to that over recent years (which has been told a few times as she’s raced different races) added to it.
Back in the athletics, a field event brought the drama, as Daniel Pembroke broke the world record, then clearly felt that the Iranian in silver medal position was breathing down his neck (although he didn’t quite manage the 70m mark), and broke his own record again to defend his gold medal, only of course, in Paris, he had a crowd to orchestrate for support. Libby Clegg talked movingly about the impact of vision loss – Pembroke is a visually impaired athlete.
Day nine: table tennis, and I got pulled into the extremely close gold medal match between Will Bailey and the very sweaty Chinese defending champion. The latter won, but only just.
There was more swimming, with returning faces, and athletics, with the universal mixed 100m relay (they’ve changed the relays to give ‘smaller countries’ a chance, but, at least in the overall medal tables, aren’t China, GB and the USA the biggest countries?) It wasn’t easy for the cameras to follow all that happened. World record holders China whizzed past in the last leg (redeeming themselves after getting disqualified at the last Paralympics), but GB were a strong second, with Zak Shaw getting to win a medal outright, after being awarded one after another athlete was disqualified, Peacock winning one and looking happier with his run, and standout para-athlete Sammy Kinghorn getting another. Ali Shaw would be running another race after that. The Americans came third, with Peacock hinting at a selection error.
Day ten: I switched the television on as Alfie Hewitt lost the gold medal match to a Japanese teenager after leading in the third set. The focus switched to swimming, which featured a close race where Alice Tai faded in the last 5m to only just get a bronze, and then another close race that Stephen Clegg won. He proceeded to give a rambling interview that was self-critical in the extreme even though he’d just won. I think he probably has a few issues it might help him if he worked through, so that he was as kind to himself as he clearly was to others. Channel 4 milked having his sister on their team, and brought in his mother because Claire Balding loves swimming parents.
Athletics had the return of Hannah Cockroft, still outclassing everyone in the 800m. Aled Davies had to settle for silver in the shotput instead of a fourth gold. I chose not to watch the men’s wheelchair basketball gold medal match (and the USA beat GB.)
Final day: I joined proceedings in the middle of the build-up to the closing ceremony, as Claire Balding and various people reminisced and round-ups of various sports were shown. Liz Johnson made the point that there were still many categories of disabilities that weren’t being represented (in the swimming, particularly,) despite all the success. It appears as though Rose Ayling-Ellis’s fierce campaigning side has been stoked by the Paralympic experience.
It was raining, sadly, but the closing ceremony was fairly well done, with a brass band for the parade, with a nice variety of songs. There was a powerful rendition of La Marseillaise by a winged trumpeter and the crowd. A bit of showcasing of breaking. Two rousing, celebratory speeches from Tony Estanguet and Andrew Pearson, with the specific challenge to make the Metro more accessible. (Macron got booed whenever he was highlighted)
LA28 promised people hurling themselves all around a skate part WITH FLARES. (We were reminded later that the USA has a lot to prove to the Paralympic movement, having botched previous games, but it’s not as if Paris 2024 hasn’t given them an excellent template to follow. And really, the US should be duking it out on the medal table with China, not trailing GB, even with the legacy of Stoke Mandeville.) Lots of applause and love for the athletes, many of whom got involved in a conga, and volunteers. Tanni Grey-Thompson was an useful addition to the commentary. It all ended on French electronic music (leaning more into cool sounds than a banging beat) and a fabulous light show, which I think must have been unforgettable if you were there.
Katherine Debrunner (sp?) responded to Sammy Kinghorn daring to win the 100m in their classification by bossing the 400m, so Kinghorn returned to a silver, but seemed rather pleased with it. In the pool, they put the gold medal around Rebecca Redfern’s neck before the race started, but the commentators made it sound like it would be a closer race. In the end, she did win. But the S8 50m race involving Alice Tai was a genuinely close race, and her reaction, not really sure she’d won until a competitor told her (she wears specs) and continued surprise were very attractive. Her story, that she’d been racing the 400m the previous day, which requires a different technique, and that she had decided to have an amputation for quality of life and adapt to that over recent years (which has been told a few times as she’s raced different races) added to it.
Back in the athletics, a field event brought the drama, as Daniel Pembroke broke the world record, then clearly felt that the Iranian in silver medal position was breathing down his neck (although he didn’t quite manage the 70m mark), and broke his own record again to defend his gold medal, only of course, in Paris, he had a crowd to orchestrate for support. Libby Clegg talked movingly about the impact of vision loss – Pembroke is a visually impaired athlete.
Day nine: table tennis, and I got pulled into the extremely close gold medal match between Will Bailey and the very sweaty Chinese defending champion. The latter won, but only just.
There was more swimming, with returning faces, and athletics, with the universal mixed 100m relay (they’ve changed the relays to give ‘smaller countries’ a chance, but, at least in the overall medal tables, aren’t China, GB and the USA the biggest countries?) It wasn’t easy for the cameras to follow all that happened. World record holders China whizzed past in the last leg (redeeming themselves after getting disqualified at the last Paralympics), but GB were a strong second, with Zak Shaw getting to win a medal outright, after being awarded one after another athlete was disqualified, Peacock winning one and looking happier with his run, and standout para-athlete Sammy Kinghorn getting another. Ali Shaw would be running another race after that. The Americans came third, with Peacock hinting at a selection error.
Day ten: I switched the television on as Alfie Hewitt lost the gold medal match to a Japanese teenager after leading in the third set. The focus switched to swimming, which featured a close race where Alice Tai faded in the last 5m to only just get a bronze, and then another close race that Stephen Clegg won. He proceeded to give a rambling interview that was self-critical in the extreme even though he’d just won. I think he probably has a few issues it might help him if he worked through, so that he was as kind to himself as he clearly was to others. Channel 4 milked having his sister on their team, and brought in his mother because Claire Balding loves swimming parents.
Athletics had the return of Hannah Cockroft, still outclassing everyone in the 800m. Aled Davies had to settle for silver in the shotput instead of a fourth gold. I chose not to watch the men’s wheelchair basketball gold medal match (and the USA beat GB.)
Final day: I joined proceedings in the middle of the build-up to the closing ceremony, as Claire Balding and various people reminisced and round-ups of various sports were shown. Liz Johnson made the point that there were still many categories of disabilities that weren’t being represented (in the swimming, particularly,) despite all the success. It appears as though Rose Ayling-Ellis’s fierce campaigning side has been stoked by the Paralympic experience.
It was raining, sadly, but the closing ceremony was fairly well done, with a brass band for the parade, with a nice variety of songs. There was a powerful rendition of La Marseillaise by a winged trumpeter and the crowd. A bit of showcasing of breaking. Two rousing, celebratory speeches from Tony Estanguet and Andrew Pearson, with the specific challenge to make the Metro more accessible. (Macron got booed whenever he was highlighted)
LA28 promised people hurling themselves all around a skate part WITH FLARES. (We were reminded later that the USA has a lot to prove to the Paralympic movement, having botched previous games, but it’s not as if Paris 2024 hasn’t given them an excellent template to follow. And really, the US should be duking it out on the medal table with China, not trailing GB, even with the legacy of Stoke Mandeville.) Lots of applause and love for the athletes, many of whom got involved in a conga, and volunteers. Tanni Grey-Thompson was an useful addition to the commentary. It all ended on French electronic music (leaning more into cool sounds than a banging beat) and a fabulous light show, which I think must have been unforgettable if you were there.
