Updates from the Paralympics

On Tuesday, September 4th, One Billion Strong's Chairman Hassan Ali Bin Ali met with the Qatari team in the Paralympic Village a few hours before competition. I interviewed the Chairman and Qatar’s Abdulrahman Abdulqader as part of the air transport accessibility project.

Some Photos from the Paralympic Games

Totally packed stadium. This shot is from my Iphone, so it is not the highest quality, but you get the idea that the place was filled to capacity:)

The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, handing out medals. That was a great surprise and it was even better when she sat a few row behind me right after she handed out the medals. My mom was so excited to be close to her that she nearly fell over trying to take a picture and it came out all blurry, but it created a funny story at least!

Inside the stadium--I had a great view of the medal podium that is on the bottom right in this picture.

Tents and vendors outside of the stadium--very busy!

The Aquatic Center right before a race started.

On my way to the stadium to watch Oscar Pistorius and others compete.

September 2, 2012 Blog

Tonight the Aquatic Center had seats that were completely full and in my walk to the Olympic Stadium there were people everywhere.  Painted faces with the colors and patterns of Great Britain’s flag and a common theme of festivity.

Last night I talked about Oscar Pistorius being on fire in the 200 meter qualifier.  Tonight he came in second with a competitor from Brazil, Alan Oliveira, taking the gold.  It was an interesting moment for me when the American seated next to me exclaimed, “He was beat!” accounting for a huge upset tonight.  It is tremendous to realize that Oscar did successfully qualify for the Olympics and now was beat by another Paralympian.  It certainly is testimony to the strength of the athleticism on display in these games. 

A couple of other things that were noteworthy about tonight—one, the Duchess of Cambridge was seated fairly close to me and it was fascinating to observe how people became aware of her presence.  There was a buzz as people popped up to quietly take her photo.  At one point, she appeared to leave the stadium but a brief time later was seated in another nearby area where her presence was less obvious. And yes, I was one of the people trying to take thousands of photos of her.

Another was my interest in watching the women’s T11 and T12 races where athletes who are blind use guide runners in the race.  It was phenomenal to watch two people who ran that fast with that level of coordination and communication.

During the day I spent a lot of time at the Paralympic Village working on the airport accessibility project which is my main reason for being here.  I worked with a camera crew and was able to get a number of interviews that are important to the research.  I spoke with three American women who compete in track and field, who described their wheelchairs as part of their body and their independence.  They spoke to how discouraging and costly it can be for them when this part of them is damaged or mishandled in air transport.

I also interviewed athletes from Mexico, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Nicaragua,  Spain, and Gambia about their experiences in airport travel.  There were common threads that athletes mentioned at different stages of the airport, such as when they check their wheelchairs, have to be lifted onto a plane, or when they go through security.  I also heard a lot of positives of how Heathrow Airport has made improvements resulting in a good experience for many of them.  Maybe there is something here that can be learned and applied to other airports.  

It was also pretty powerful to see the athletes from the world in all the different Paralympic locations.  The residential village and dining hall are impressive with the signs for Halal Cuisine, McDonald’s, India and Asia amongst a wide range of world cuisines.  Obviously there are many palate tastes to feed the world.  The backdrop of the large expansive room that is filled with food stations is a wall with a sign that stated, “None of us is as good as all of us.”  

September 1, 2012 Blog

I had the pleasure of meeting Rachael Burrows today from Team Canada who competed last night in wheelchair racing and look forward to watching her compete again on September 6th. She's part of a large Canadian delegation that has their large flags hanging from their rooms in the Paralympic village.

In tonight’s 200 meter qualifier, Oscar Pistorius totally dominated and lived up to the expectations of the 80,000+ crowd.  He is recognized as one of the most important figures in Paralympic sports and one of the first to also qualify in the Olympics where he also ran this past month.   He is gracious in the spotlight and points to how sports can change the world and certainly have transformed the city of London. 

I find it fascinating the attention the world is placing on running blades that are in use by many Paralympians.  First used in the 80’s, the blades represent the best of engineering and technology,  The talk is all about the thickness of the carbon fiber and the needs of the athlete and the energy absorption of the blades while in use.  Are they being used for sprinting, jumping, or long distance running are all major considerations in design.

Four years ago while in law school I wrote a paper about disability and sports and how I liked the Nike commercials that featured Pistorius following his success at the Paralympics in Beijing.  The commercials focused on his ability as an athlete when he implied the blades are his weapons for winning.  Best of luck to him tomorrow in the metal round.

Jason Smyth of Ireland won a gold tonight in the 100 meters after smashing the world record twice. He blew out the competition and won by what appeared to be ten feet!  Although his win was fun to watch, I was more excited to hear that he has Stargardt’s—the same rare eye disease I have.  Clearly we would be besties if we knew each other, except I am not as fast, ha.

The Last Leg is on Channel 4 now (and is great), so that's all for today!