Sochi Paralympics draw to close in Russia

Deutsche Welle, 16 March 2014

The Sochi Paralympics have ended in Russia, with the host nation's athletes topping the medals table. President Vladimir Putin thanked sporting officials for not making an issue of developments in nearby Ukraine.

Russia staged the closing ceremony of the Sochi Paralympics on Sunday, with the hosts taking top spot on the medal table with 30 golds.

They finished well ahead of Germany, who had nine first-place finishes, while Canada took third, with seven golds.

"The games have been absolutely mind-blowing in terms of their impact, far beyond what the Paralympic Movement expected when coming here," International Paralympic Committee President Sir Philip Craven said. "They have been a spectacular showcase of sport and the power of the human spirit," he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the ceremony at the Fisht Stadium, where a choreographed routine of dancers in wheelchairs formed part of the spectacle. The event took place on the same day as a controversial referendum on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea about whether the country should secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

Although concerns about alleged Russian intervention in Crimea have been voiced, the Ukrainian team remained in Sochi for the duration of the competition.

Earlier in the day, Putin thanked sporting officials for "keeping the Paralympics away from politics."

Ukrainian Paralympic Committee President Valeriy Sushkevych said that he feared the team could be returning to a country on the brink of greater conflict after the close of the games. He expressed a wish that Putin recognize "the danger of what we call war."

Fourth place on the table went to Ukraine, which finished with five gold medals.

The ceremony brought to an end the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, which began on February 7.

rc/mkg (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Putin opens Paralympics as protest staged over Crimea crisis

Google – AFP, Maria Antonova (AFP), 7 March 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd L) and International Paralympic

 Committee President Sir Philip Craven (L) attend the opening ceremony of the

 Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi on March 7, 2014 (Ria Novosti/

AFP, Alexey Nikolsky)

Sochi — Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the Winter Paralympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday and was immediately confronted by an emotional Ukrainian protest on a politically-charged night.

As athletes from 45 countries took part in the opening ceremony, only one Ukrainian competitor appeared in a symbolic, scaled-down presence of the country that has denounced Russia's intervention in Crimea.

Spectators gave huge cheers and some even stood to applaud 37-year-old skier and biathlete Mykhailo Tkachenko who came through the Fisht stadium in his wheelchair.

Dancers perform during the Opening

Ceremony of XI Paralympic Olympic games

at the Fisht Olympic Stadium close to city

of Sochi on March 7, 2014 (AFP, Kirill

Kudrayavtsev)

Without a trace of a smile, Tkachenko proudly carried his country's national flag for his 31-strong team who did not enter the stadium with him.

Ukraine had earlier said it would refrain from any political protests during the ceremony, and paralympic committee head Valery Sushkevich even said he had to persuade a teenage athlete against expressing her anger at Russia.

Ukraine had also decided that they would not boycott the Games which run until March 16.

Some Western countries, including the United States, Britain and Germany, have not sent government delegations in protest at Russia's Crimea intervention.

In what appeared as a taunt towards the US, organisers played a popular 1990s Russian song called "Good-bye, America" when the Russian team closed the parade.

Putin had said that he hoped the Paralympic spirit will help "cool the tensions" surrounding Russia's policy on Ukraine, which has already caused the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

Sushkevich told journalists that he personally appealed to Putin for peace but did not receive any assurances.

"I don't remember a situation in the history of the Paralympic movement when the host country began an intervention into a participating country," he said.

Ukrainian paralympic cross-country skier and biathlete Mykhaylo Tkachenko

 enters the stadium the Fisht Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony of

 the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on March 7,

2014 (AFP, Kirill Kudryavtsev)

"We hope there will be steps for de-escalation, for lessening the threat of war."

Holding back tears, Paralympic skier Grygoriy Vovchinsky said his team "is from all over Ukraine" and "speaks both Russian and Ukrainian."

"We are here, we represent a young country, and we are ready to fight, to show that we are a strong nation, an independent nation. We love life, we love sport, and we love a fair fight," said Vovchinsky.

- 'New history of Russia' -

The Paralympics in Russia are a major symbolic step for a country that for decades stigmatised people with disabilities.

"A new history of Russia is beginning, a history without barriers and stereotypes," said Sochi Organising Committee head Dmitry Chernyshenko.

One month after Russia mounted a dazzling Winter Olympics opening, Friday's Paralympics curtain-raiser featured classical ballet numbers and also included a monumental icebreaker that drifted across the stage to the sound of crushing ice.

Russia's notable Paralympians participated in the final relay to light the cauldron, including swimmer Olesya Vladykina and skier Sergei Shilov, who lit it with the final torch to booming fireworks.

Artists perform during the Opening Ceremony of XI Paralympic Olympic

 games at the Fisht Olympic Stadium close to city of Sochi on March 7,

2014 (AFP, Kirill Kudryavtsev)

International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven, who was joined at the ceremony by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, praised organisers for transforming Sochi "to make it accessible for everyone" and building "perfect" venues.

Russia's team placed first in the Winter Olympics, an unexpected success which was a major boost to national pride.

A total of 45 countries and 575 athletes will be competing in Sochi in five Paralympic sports, including alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, wheelchair curling and sledge hockey.

For the first time ever, alpine skiing will include snowboarding as a discipline.

Soviet Russia did not participate in the Paralympic movement until the 1988 Games in Seoul, at the onset of perestroika, and people with disabilities often remained invisible in society, unable to exit their apartments or even sent to special homes.

The stigma against people with disabilities still persists in the country, which only recently began to invest in urban infrastructure that ensures equal access.

British gov't boycotts Sochi Paralympics over Ukraine

Google – AFP, 2 March 2014

The Olympic flame claudron is pictured just before being extinguished at the

 end of the Closing Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics outside the Fisht

Olympic Stadium on February 23, 2014 (AFP, Yuri Kadobnov)

London — The British government will boycott the Winter Paralympics in Sochi over host Russia's military action in Ukraine, Prime Minister David Cameron said Sunday.

The British premier said he and Foreign Secretary William Hague thought it would be "wrong" for ministers to go to the Games, which start on Friday, given the unfolding events in nearby Ukraine.

Cameron tweeted: "Because of the serious situation in Ukraine, @WilliamJHague & I believe it would be wrong for UK Ministers to attend the Sochi Paralympics."

A Downing Street spokesman said Cameron remained "gravely concerned" about the situation in Ukraine and would talk to US President Barack Obama later Sunday.

Cameron was also due to speak Sunday with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite

Hague has flown to Kiev to meet the new Ukrainian authorities, make clear London's support for them and to urge continued restraint.

Hague announced earlier that Britain would not take part in preparatory meetings this week in Russia for the G8 summit, due to be held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in June.

"In current circumstances, the prime minister is clear that the focus of our engagement with Russia must be the situation in Ukraine, rather than other normal business," the Downing Street spokesman said.

Ukraine warned Sunday it was on the brink of disaster and called up military reservists after Russia's threat to invade its Western-leaning neighbour risked sparking the worst crisis since the Cold War.

"The prime minister remains gravely concerned about events in Ukraine and is determined to pursue all avenues to reduce tensions and de-escalate a very dangerous situation," said the Downing Street spokesman.

"A stable Ukraine is in the interests of everyone -- including the UK. Ukraine is one of the largest countries in Europe and a neighbour of the European Union. Its economic prosperity, security and stability matter.

"The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine has been violated and this cannot be the way to conduct international affairs."

He added: "The prime minister and foreign secretary have also decided that it would be inappropriate for UK ministers to attend the Sochi Paralympics in current circumstances.

"The prime minister remains fully supportive of our Paralympic athletes' participation at Sochi."

Cameron did not attend the Sochi Winter Olympics last month. There is no tradition of British prime ministers attending the Winter Games.

Extra scrutiny for Paralympic TV deals

BBC News, 10 September 2012

The USA beat Great Britain to the bronze medal in wheelchair basketball

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• Paralympics close in fiery finale
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The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is to scrutinise potential broadcasting partners more carefully in future after US rights holders NBC failed to show any live 2012 action.

NBC scheduled four hour-long highlights programmes on the NBC Sports channel, followed by one 90-minute round-up.

IPC president Sir Philip Craven said of future media partners: "We'll examine their values as they will examine ours.

"If the values fit, we've got a chance. If they don't we'll go somewhere else."

The London 2012 Paralympic Games ended on Sunday with a spectacular closing ceremony featuring performances from Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z.

Channel 4 aired 400 hours of Paralympic coverage in the UK, while Australia's ABC screened more than 100 hours.

In Japan viewers had a nightly one-hour highlights programme. Its capital Tokyo is bidding to host the 2020 Games.

NBC did not show any live action and its 90-minute round-up programme will not be broadcast until 16 September.

Yet the broadcaster said the total of five-and-a-half hours represented an improvement on the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, when viewers got a single 90-minute highlights package.

"The people of the USA, for example, particularly the parents and families of the athletes, they are all ready for Paralympic sport," Sir Philip added.

"Take the plunge, take the risk and then you'll succeed."

NBC said its coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games was the "most-watched television event in US history", with 219 million people watching over the duration of the event.

But it drew criticism for delaying the broadcast of popular events until prime time hours.

Viewers also complained of problems with online streaming and edited versions of the opening and closing ceremonies.

Paralympics: London Prepares to Welcome the World, Again

Jakarta Globe, August 22, 2012

Sailing Paralympic athletes Brazil's Bruno Landgraf, right, and Elaine Cunha
 train in Guarapiranga lake in Sao Paulo on Aug. 10. Landgraf and Cunha will
compete  in the Skud 18 sailing class in the 2012 London Paralympic Games which
will take place from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9. (Reuters Photo/Paulo Whitaker)

              

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The world’s top athletes with a disability, including “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, converge on London next week for what organizers say will be the biggest and most high-profile Paralympics in the Games’ 52-year history.

A record 4,200 athletes from 166 countries will be in the British capital, with the 11-day Games a near sell-out and expected to be watched by an estimated global television audience of four billion people.

Britain is considered the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, after World War II veterans with spinal injuries competed in archery events at Stoke Mandeville in southern England in 1948, 12 years before the first official Games in Rome.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said that history, a desire to see more elite sport after a successful Olympics, increased media coverage and sponsorship have combined to drive up interest and awareness.

“There’s a fantastic buzz in the air, waiting for it to kick off and people talking about it,” IPC president Philip Craven told Agence France-Presse before next Wednesday’s opening ceremony.

China held the last Paralympics in Beijing in 2008 and did much to raise the Games’ profile.

The previous hosts won 211 medals, including 89 gold, and will be looking to replicate that success this time round.

But challenging them will be the current hosts, who came third in the Olympics medal table, galvanizing wide support for the Games across the country and lifting a national mood hit by lingering economic woes.

ParalympicsGB have been set a minimum target of 103 medals from at least 12 different sports — one better than in Beijing — and to match their second-place finish four years ago.

For the home team, hopes are highest for athletes like Jonnie Peacock, who in June set a new T44 100m record of 10.85secs and is expected to challenge South Africa’s Pistorius for gold in the showpiece track event.

With Pistorius’ long-standing rival Jerome Singleton, of the United States, and a host of other lightning-fast sprinters likely to line up in the final, organizers even predict that all eight runners could dip under 11secs.

Among the wheelchair racers, Britain’s David Weir, the T54 800m and 1,500m champion four years ago, is set to renew his rivalries with Australia’s Kurt Fearnley and Swiss world record holder Marcel Hug.

In the pool, Ellie Simmonds has become a poster girl for the Games after winning two golds in Beijing aged just 13.

But like Pistorius — the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics and the Paralympics’ biggest star — there are other big names.

South Africa’s Natalie Du Toit is retiring after a decade at the top, while Matthew Cowdrey — an eight-time gold medallist — needs just three more golds to surpass athlete Tim Sullivan to become Australia’s most successful Paralympian.

London will also see veteran medallists like shooter Jonas Jacobsson, dressage specialist Lee Pearson and Dutch wheelchair tennis player Esther Vergeer going for gold again alongside first-time athletes from smaller nations.

Now 47, Sweden’s Jacobsson has competed in eight Paralympics and has 16 golds; Pearson, of Britain, has won gold at every Games since Sydney 12 years ago; while Vergeer won in 2000, 2004 and 2008 and is unbeaten in over 450 matches.

The US Virgin Islands will have their first ever Paralympian in the shape of rider Lee Frawley, while North Korea make its debut in the competition with swimmer Rim Ju Song.

Some 200 athletes with intellectual disabilities will also compete for the first time since Sydney and a scandal involving the eligibility of Spain’s basketball team.

And while every athlete has as much determination to overcome adversity as talent and skill, few have as remarkable a backstory as Martine Wright, who lost her legs in the 2005 suicide attacks in London — a day after the city was awarded the Games.

She will be a member of Britain’s sitting volleyball team.

London organizing committee chairman Sebastian Coe has repeatedly maintained that the Paralympics and the Olympics are two equal parts of the same event.

“We want to change public attitudes towards disability, celebrate the excellence of Paralympic sport and to enshrine from the very outset that the two Games are an integrated whole,” he said.

Agence France-Presse

Related Article:

London 2012: let the Paralympics preparations begin

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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