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.”