feather_ghyll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
feather_ghyll) wrote2013-07-25 08:04 am
feather_ghyll) wrote2013-07-25 08:04 am
SPORTS: IPC World Athletic Championships
Since Saturday, I’ve been catching bits of the IPC Athletics World Championships and enjoying it a lot. I have watched able-bodied athletics this summer, but didn’t feel the need to write about it.
I enjoyed seeing people I remembered from the Paralympics, a substantial number of them doing better than in London in terms of times and distances. I would love to know how many world records will have gone at this event. I love the idea that their experience there galvanised so many of them to improve and that they’re finding the means – coaching, training facilities etc – to do so.
I’ve been trying to break down why I enjoyed it so much. It’s more inspirational than most sports. Watching anyone improve at something is great. Watching people who have a disability/impairment that makes many aspects of life difficult excel is great. Probably the most touching moment was when they showed a picture of a grinning, red-cheeked little boy with a prosthetic leg that he’d posed up against the TV screen, where a picture of Olivieri, having just smashed the 200m record for his category, was frozen. And that was wonderful.
Channel 4 – well, it’s aired the championships uninterrupted on More 4, which I quite like as I did with the French Open being on ITV4 – has done a very good job of it (it could have had a few more women around, perhaps). I've come to the point where I hope it continues to get the rights to disability sports, because it both celebrates and educates. There’s a nice balance of an able-bodied presenter from a sporting background; a disabled presenter from a non-sporting background and a paralympic medalist to analyse (Danny is no Giles, but he’s enthusiastic, informed and comes across as ‘telling it like it is’) - they provide a good variety of points of view, and when silly questions are asked (see also Sonya the on-track interviewer), it’s in a well-meaning, curious sense that isn’t judged too harshly because of the context, which I think is helpful. If the supposition behind the question is incorrect, the person answering will make it clear in a matter of fact way. The audience is getting educated too. And because it is sports TV, there’s plenty of bombast. (If I didn’t mention it, I was pleased that the Paralympic coverage won the BAFTA over the Olympics coverage. I’m generally pro BBC, and perhaps it could have more cameras and channels etc, but I think that in terms of attitude, Channel 4 is is a better fit.)
What I’ve also liked about these championships, as with the Paralympics, is the way that all these categories for people with different impairments means that, for one thing, that there are several hundred metre sprints, 800m tactical runs, jumps and throws to enjoy. And the rules and accommodations for each category are fascinating – I think I missed the blind/partially sighted relay races last year, but it’s mindblowing if you haven’t caught it. Passing the baton properly is the downfall of many a fast able-bodied team, but add the difficulty of some runners running with guides and the baton passing either to or from a guide to a runner, plus the eerie atmosphere of the necessary hush until the last handover, and it’s remarkable.
There’s plenty to discuss because of these things, and although I feel that the athletes who were there as experts wanted to shy away from the need to tell so and so’s 'amazing story', knowing people’s stories is valid up to the point that the competitor is willing to disclose. There are people born with various conditions, people who had been disabled because of accidents or illness and people who have come from remarkable situations. If hearing about those stories inspires disabled people, especially children, and not just disabled people actually to lead more active lives and informs parents, teachers, clubs etc to be more disabiltiy sport-friendly, let the TV people tell these life stories. It adds to our interest in these people we’re watching.
There was a fair balance of telling their stories as athletes too – young British people competing at a senior level for the first time did themselves proud and there was all the record beating. Yes, there were too many categories where the winner was a foregone conclusion and your Cockrofts and your Smyths and your McKillops were competing against the clock and records – cue the wild excitement at the Peacock-Browne ‘rivalry’ and the way the commentators had to have Tatyana McFadden ‘compete’ against her male equivalent Hug in an attempt at a billion golds – but I think that’s something that can only improve.
It struck me that, although there was talk of how much parasports/disability sports, particularly in athletics, has moved forward and raised its profile, they perhaps mean in the UK the most. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had the heaviest TV coverage – they let slip that Channel 4 cameras were boosting the host broadcasters’ and Sonya seemed to have no difficulty in interviewing anyone she liked i.e. there was no competition, and it wasn’t like the Paralympics where the hosts came first.
But apart from our parochialism, there was the story of how the Brazilians are preparing for Rio, China’s decision just to send people it thought could win golds and individual excellence. There were also just a few questions about whether the people running the thing were putting the competitors’ wellbeing first in the heat etc. Furthermore, it’s interesting that there seem to be so few black British competitors or British blind or partially sighted competitors.
I was actually a little frustrated that the BBC news, when reporting about Peacock and Olivieri's victories the other night, had to bring in Pistorius, because the coverage at the championships was mainly about the people who were there and what they were doing (in Olivieri’s case, they were obliterating his records), which is as it should be.
I think the Anniversary Games this weekend will be quite the deserved lap of honour (I hope the championships won't have tired too many of those turning up), but I’m really glad that I’ve been able to watch this, even if a part of me knows that we live in a country, let alone a world, where not all disabled people are able to get the fancy equipment – chairs or prosthetics etc – on display or the support to meet their potential. But, in the main, I just wanted to say what a positive thing I’ve found these world championships to be.
NOTE: I have tried to be thoughtful in my word choice and have redrafted this, believe it or not. If anything about my language or tone offended you, please comment and suggest alternatives. My intent was to write about something I’ve enjoyed over the past few days and to try to look into why.
I enjoyed seeing people I remembered from the Paralympics, a substantial number of them doing better than in London in terms of times and distances. I would love to know how many world records will have gone at this event. I love the idea that their experience there galvanised so many of them to improve and that they’re finding the means – coaching, training facilities etc – to do so.
I’ve been trying to break down why I enjoyed it so much. It’s more inspirational than most sports. Watching anyone improve at something is great. Watching people who have a disability/impairment that makes many aspects of life difficult excel is great. Probably the most touching moment was when they showed a picture of a grinning, red-cheeked little boy with a prosthetic leg that he’d posed up against the TV screen, where a picture of Olivieri, having just smashed the 200m record for his category, was frozen. And that was wonderful.
Channel 4 – well, it’s aired the championships uninterrupted on More 4, which I quite like as I did with the French Open being on ITV4 – has done a very good job of it (it could have had a few more women around, perhaps). I've come to the point where I hope it continues to get the rights to disability sports, because it both celebrates and educates. There’s a nice balance of an able-bodied presenter from a sporting background; a disabled presenter from a non-sporting background and a paralympic medalist to analyse (Danny is no Giles, but he’s enthusiastic, informed and comes across as ‘telling it like it is’) - they provide a good variety of points of view, and when silly questions are asked (see also Sonya the on-track interviewer), it’s in a well-meaning, curious sense that isn’t judged too harshly because of the context, which I think is helpful. If the supposition behind the question is incorrect, the person answering will make it clear in a matter of fact way. The audience is getting educated too. And because it is sports TV, there’s plenty of bombast. (If I didn’t mention it, I was pleased that the Paralympic coverage won the BAFTA over the Olympics coverage. I’m generally pro BBC, and perhaps it could have more cameras and channels etc, but I think that in terms of attitude, Channel 4 is is a better fit.)
What I’ve also liked about these championships, as with the Paralympics, is the way that all these categories for people with different impairments means that, for one thing, that there are several hundred metre sprints, 800m tactical runs, jumps and throws to enjoy. And the rules and accommodations for each category are fascinating – I think I missed the blind/partially sighted relay races last year, but it’s mindblowing if you haven’t caught it. Passing the baton properly is the downfall of many a fast able-bodied team, but add the difficulty of some runners running with guides and the baton passing either to or from a guide to a runner, plus the eerie atmosphere of the necessary hush until the last handover, and it’s remarkable.
There’s plenty to discuss because of these things, and although I feel that the athletes who were there as experts wanted to shy away from the need to tell so and so’s 'amazing story', knowing people’s stories is valid up to the point that the competitor is willing to disclose. There are people born with various conditions, people who had been disabled because of accidents or illness and people who have come from remarkable situations. If hearing about those stories inspires disabled people, especially children, and not just disabled people actually to lead more active lives and informs parents, teachers, clubs etc to be more disabiltiy sport-friendly, let the TV people tell these life stories. It adds to our interest in these people we’re watching.
There was a fair balance of telling their stories as athletes too – young British people competing at a senior level for the first time did themselves proud and there was all the record beating. Yes, there were too many categories where the winner was a foregone conclusion and your Cockrofts and your Smyths and your McKillops were competing against the clock and records – cue the wild excitement at the Peacock-Browne ‘rivalry’ and the way the commentators had to have Tatyana McFadden ‘compete’ against her male equivalent Hug in an attempt at a billion golds – but I think that’s something that can only improve.
It struck me that, although there was talk of how much parasports/disability sports, particularly in athletics, has moved forward and raised its profile, they perhaps mean in the UK the most. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had the heaviest TV coverage – they let slip that Channel 4 cameras were boosting the host broadcasters’ and Sonya seemed to have no difficulty in interviewing anyone she liked i.e. there was no competition, and it wasn’t like the Paralympics where the hosts came first.
But apart from our parochialism, there was the story of how the Brazilians are preparing for Rio, China’s decision just to send people it thought could win golds and individual excellence. There were also just a few questions about whether the people running the thing were putting the competitors’ wellbeing first in the heat etc. Furthermore, it’s interesting that there seem to be so few black British competitors or British blind or partially sighted competitors.
I was actually a little frustrated that the BBC news, when reporting about Peacock and Olivieri's victories the other night, had to bring in Pistorius, because the coverage at the championships was mainly about the people who were there and what they were doing (in Olivieri’s case, they were obliterating his records), which is as it should be.
I think the Anniversary Games this weekend will be quite the deserved lap of honour (I hope the championships won't have tired too many of those turning up), but I’m really glad that I’ve been able to watch this, even if a part of me knows that we live in a country, let alone a world, where not all disabled people are able to get the fancy equipment – chairs or prosthetics etc – on display or the support to meet their potential. But, in the main, I just wanted to say what a positive thing I’ve found these world championships to be.
NOTE: I have tried to be thoughtful in my word choice and have redrafted this, believe it or not. If anything about my language or tone offended you, please comment and suggest alternatives. My intent was to write about something I’ve enjoyed over the past few days and to try to look into why.