Paralympics and so much more

I am not a sport lover, I absolutely detested it when I was at school but I have found myself being attracted to any kind of sport where I can shout out support for England or Great Britain. This was first highlighted after I was diagnosed with MS and attended the Chilterns MS Centre. I had to undergo an assessment prior to being assigned a physiotherapist. That folks is where I first met an incredible lady called Wilma Anic. Wilma was not the run of the mill physio, prior to working at the MS Centre she was working at Stoke Mandeville Hospital she was a fully qualified neuro physio, she did all this whilst being wheelchair bound.  It wasn’t long before I started to find out about Wilma’s background and what an incredible lady she was. In 1988 at the Paralympics in Seoul Wilma competed in the wheelchair archery and won gold!

  

It was because of this story that I started to pay attention to the Paralympics and took special note that if I put my mind to it anything was possible. Hence the reason I have spent much of my time with the support of hubby and SMD doing crazy things like a skydive, the MS Challenge, Jubilee Sailing Trust and the Prestwood 10k in my wheelchair. In 2021 the Dean Team and Wilma attended the Lantern Parade ahead of the 2012 Paralympics.

 

Fast forward nine years and here we are in 2021 still living through a global pandemic but thankfully after cancellation last year the 2020 Paralympics are able to take place. I don’t know whether it’s because we have all been through such a testing time but I certainly found myself getting quite excited during the Olympics and now I can’t wait for the Paralympics to start next week. With my PA we have done a reasonable amount of research to find out the schedule for the fortnight of the games (I really don’t want to miss anything). Before the games start I recommend going onto the website:

Paralympic.org (sorry blogger doesn’t allow me to add links)

 

In here they list all the different classifications, in the past I have found it a nightmare to follow. Basically with respect to the athletics the class will always be prefixed by a T or F (track or field). For example Kadenna Cox who has MS runs in the T37-the 37 describes her level of disability which in her case highlights the ataxia she suffers. Kadenna also competes in the cycling and the classification for this is C2. 
I mention the classification codes because if you watch any of the Paralympics on television you may wonder what the hell they all are and why there are so many races for the same event.

Watch out for the swimming, I am in awe of our Team GB swimming contingent especially Ellie Challis who is only 16 and swims in category S3.

 

It’s good to know household names such as Hannah Cockcroft T4 and David Weir T54 are both competing in Tokyo 2020.

 

 

Unlike the Olympics the Paralympics will not be shown on the BBC and will be available to watch around the clock on both Channel 4  and More 4, the easiest way to remember what sports are on what channel is, all the team sports such as wheelchair rugby, basketball and a favourite of mine Boccia (maybe one day Team Chilterns MS maybe on there) are on More 4, the rest are on Channel 4.

I hadn’t realised there have already been some interesting programs on the run up to Tuesday 24^th, they can all be caught up on using the catch up service for Channel 4. Michael Johnson has done a series of four programs with Paralympians the first two were on Saturday 14^th with Ellie Simmonds and Kadeena Cox. There are a further two programs on this Saturday with Will Bailey and Hannah Cockcroft. Also on Saturday at 8pm on Channel 4 is the story of Billy Monger (the young lad who is a racing car driver and a double amputee).

The schedule for the whole fortnight of the Paralympics is available on:

Olympics.com

 

I know it won’t be everybody’s cup of tea but I hope this post will give you the heads up if you are interested. See you next week xx