London 2012: let the Paralympics preparations begin

Organisers kick off mammoth turnaround operation to get capital ready for biggest Paralympic Games in history

guardian.co.uk, Alexandra Topping, Monday 13 August 2012

Paralympics GB's David Weir competes in the men's T54 1500m race a
 test event for the London 2012 Games at Olympic Stadium in May.
Photograph: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

The last medals have been presented, the last victories celebrated – the final bars of music that marked the end of the most joyous Olympic Games in British history have faded. But even as the nation exhales a slightly sad, if self-satisfied, sigh of relief, London 2012 organisers are kicking off a mammoth turnaround operation to get the capital ready for the biggest Paralympics in history in 16 days' time.

Thousands of flags and banners in dozens of venues will be changed, hundreds of buses will be converted, new volunteer recruits will be put through their paces and thousands of journalists will start trying to comprehend the intricacies of goalball and the Paralympic classification system.

After record sales of tickets which could mean this Paralympic Games will be the first to sell out in its 52-year history – 2.1m tickets out of a released 2.5m have already sold – organisers must now ensure London is ready to welcome 4,200 athletes from 165 nations.

"All it relies on is getting tens of thousands of details right," said former Paralympian and Locog's director of Paralympic integration, Chris Holmes. "It's now all about connecting the right people and the right parts behind the scenes and putting all those years of planning in place."

In the next few days, even as planes fly out of Heathrow taking Olympians home, Paralympians from around the globe will begin to arrive. New lifts and improved baggage handling – put in place by BAA after the successful bid – mean, in theory at least, wheelchair users will be able to take their own chair directly from the plane to the gate for the first time.

"It's about doing everything we need to do so that athletes can focus on giving the performance of their lives, because we have taken care of the details," Holmes said. "There will be a huge increase in service to what the athletes have experienced before, and the transport planning will leave a legacy for disabled passengers."

A new influx of volunteers – fewer in number, but in equal density to the Olympics, so visitors will have no shortage of people relentlessly encouraging them to smile – will start taking up their places. Around 70% will be fresh to these Games, while 30% will have also experienced what Paralympic organisers jokingly refer to as "the warm-up".

The first Paralympians will arrive at the Olympic village — complete with accessible toilets, ramps, rooms and communal areas – on 20 August, just five days after the last Olympic athletes leave. The British team move in on the 22nd – the only athletes who will have seen and used many of the venues in which they will be competing.

While Paralymic athletes sometimes performed to half-empty stadiums in Beijing, many top London 2012 events have already sold out.

And unlike many other athletes, Paralympics GB will be prepared for the noise of huge crowds, said the team's chef de mission, Craig Hunter. "Many of them will not be used to these numbers, so we have made sure they know exactly what to expect."

London may not be planning to empty and re-tile it's Olympic pool like Bejing in 2008, but a vast rebranding exercise is happening throughout the capital. Venues will be daubed with the Paralympic agitos – three swoops in red, green and blue representing the Paralympic motto "spirit in motion" – and the giant Olympic rings on Tower Bridge and in Trafalgar Square, like those in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh, with also be replaced.

Some venues – like the BMX circuit, waterpolo arena, Horse Guards Parade, and Lee valley – will close, while others will change use, like the Copper Box, which will transition from modern pentathlon to goalball. There will be new venues too: Brands Hatch in Kent for road cycling and Eton Manor in the Olympic Park for wheelchair tennis. A fleet of 2,000 vehicles will be rebranded, while 293 will be converted to provide space for five or six wheelchairs.

It all sounds like a logistical mountain, but Holmes insists that London is better placed than any other Olympic hosting nation to move seamlessly from Olympics to Paralympics, because the bid has been completely integrated from day one, influencing everything from the design of the Olympic village and stadia, to the logo and mascots. "It's not difficult in the slightest," he said. "Obviously it's a lot of work but it's also a great opportunity."

The level of sponsorship, branding and awareness is profoundly different too. For the first time sponsors are supporting both Games – billboards featuring star Paralympians such as Oscar "blade-runner" Pistorius can already be seen throughout the country – while historic broadcasting deals, in the UK with Channel 4 and overseas, mean more of the Paralympics will be shown than ever before.

"If we get this right it will be seen as the high-water mark for the Paralympic Games," said Holmes. "I truly believe that if we nail this it has the potential to shift attitudes and opportunities – in sport, education, employment – for disabled people around the world. This is the Games of the possible, and that's just so thrilling to be a part of."

But it is not just about raising awareness of disability sport and that much-reiterated goal of inspiring a generation – it is also, quite fiercely, about winning. Paralympics GB will be hoping to bring home more medals in more disciplines than in Beijing, and match their second place in the medals table. But Holmes, himself a nine-times gold medal winner in the pool, might have ambitions that are higher still.

Could this team beat China and come out on top? "It will be a great challenge. But imagine the difference home support can make, who knows how far they can take it."

The Games transition

• There are 16 days from the Olympic closing ceremony to the Paralympic opening, with the shortest transition period being five days for the Games billboards.

• The seating in some stadia will be modified, with more accessible seating added in the aquatics centre and the basketball arena, as well as 3,000 seats added to the hockey training pitch to transform it for five-a-side football.

• 16 venues are not being used: BMX circuit, waterpolo arena, Horse Guards Parade, Lord's cricket ground, Earls Court, Wembley, Hyde Park, Wimbledon, six football stadiums, Lee valley, Hadleigh farm.

• Two new venues are being added for the Paralympics, Brands Hatch in Kent for road cycling and Eton Manor in the Olympic Park for wheelchair tennis.

• About 2,000 fleet vehicles will be rebranded with the agitos, and 293 buses converted to provide five or six wheelchair spaces.

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