Paralympics?

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laurence

laurence

Veteran
Location
in the aeroplane over the sea
not much chat about the paralympic games.

i went to the velodrome on friday for both sessions and it was brilliant. saw McGlynn and Scott win silver in the time trial in the morning. the afternoon session was full of drama, Butterworth won silver, McKeown and Kenny got silver and bronze respectively and Colbourne won a gold.

Berenyi of USA was incredible to win gold, beating (McKeown and Kenny) and China's Zhang Yu Li was amazingly fast, but faded in the final 1km as Colbourne fought back.

Liang of China was another star with a stunning pursut gold.

so many world records on the day and the noise inside the venue was ear-splitting.

the drama was caused by Jody Cundy being DQ'd after fluffing the start. they ruled he was at fault and not the gate and wouldn't allow him a restart - cue much swearing and he was eventually carried away (literally) by the GB staff as he wouldn't calm down. he did later come back and apologise.

anyone going to the road races and time trials? i can't make them, unfortunately.
 
thom

thom

____
Location
The Borough
Disappointed the road/tt events are at Brand's Hatch - not able to get there.
I saw on TV the Tandem kilo, in particular the dq of the last GB pair due to 2 problematic starts. The way they handled that was rather different to JC.
The tandem events are pretty cool.
 
Noodley

Noodley

Guest
I have not seen any of the track cycling, I have no idea when it's on and Ch4 coverage of the games is utterly useless from what I have seen.

However I do know that someone I know is in the final of an event as the sighted half of a tandem pair
 
deptfordmarmoset

deptfordmarmoset

Full time tea drinker
Location
Armonmy Way
There seems to have been a sudden onset of starting gate problems for team GB. But there's still been some excellent cycling from them. Apart from the odd starts the Brits have all looked very disciplined on the track.

I'm planning to go to the road races on Thursday pm with a couple of Sustrans peeps. We'll probably be going up School Lane from Horton Kirby and arriving at the NW part of the course - I seem to remember having to pedal down it last time I was there so it can't be that steep! I've no idea whether we'll be able to get onto the race track from there. I might go out again on the Saturday as well.
 
OP
OP
laurence

laurence

Veteran
Location
in the aeroplane over the sea
the C4 coverage does seem a bit random, but they have several streams and it's a matter of finding the one with cycling. their red button system isn't as slick as the BBC.

agree, shame the road events are at Brands... although the transport to out of the way locations has been great at the games - Eton Dorney for the rowing was a doddle to get to for the Olympics. i'm already booked for other events and things for the road days.

the tandem races are great. there should be tandem races in the Olympics.

i missed Saturday's action, but heard about the GB pair and their misfortune and aplomb in handling it. i think JC lost a lot of sympathy with the outburst, but it was very good of him to come back and apologise. interestingly, the Spanish coaches seemed to raise the issue of JC's start, they were near the start when he was preparing to restart and seemed to been appealing to the judges.

in other sports... the atmosphere in the stadium was amazing too. i was right by the long jump on friday and the athletes were wonderful. Markus Rehm was awesome
 
Noodley

Noodley

Guest
The track cycling has just come on and that disgrace Phil Liggett is commentating - time to switch the sound off.
 
M

Mad Doug Biker

Just a damaged guy.
Location
Craggy Island
The only cycling I have a ticket for is the road racing, both days. Yes, getting there will be a pain as I'll need to have yet another early start, but hey, it's the Lympics!

I'll be wearing my CC jersey by the way, so look out if you see it on the telly!

Other events I've also been too are the rowing Friday and Saturday, some Goalball heats on Friday evening and the Athletics last night.

My favourite event so far though was the Goalball, or to be more exact, the Canada - Iran game. One of the Iranian players was obviously a bit of a character and was playing up to the crowd, dancing when the music came on and getting everyone else to dance and clap (although he couldn't see that obviously). On top of that, there were a couple of guys with the team not far from where I was sitting and one was shouting and whooping and keeping the players and us amused (the players clearly knew him).

At first I thought, *national stereotype*, he must be Canadian as he was shouting in English (and Arabic), but he wasn't, and it was only at the end that I realised he was blind, so was possibly a former player.

The two of them really got everyone behind Iran (except for the Canadian fans of course!) and eventually won comfortably, much to the Canadians' disgust, ha ha!

Canada and the other teams playing were positively sterile in comparison, so if you get the chance, see Iran playing the Goalball, particularly if the number 2 is playing (I can't remember his name currently).
 
buddha

buddha

Veteran
I may steal a 'few' hours here and there this week to watch the RR/TT's this week. As it's about an hour's ride from me. And will probably check out the practice sessions tomorrow.
It looks like there's only a few miles of road they'll be riding (apart from Brands Hatch circuit). So I expect it will be packed come the weekend.
 
M

Mad Doug Biker

Just a damaged guy.
Location
Craggy Island
buddha said:
I may steal a 'few' hours here and there this week to watch the RR/TT's this week. As it's about an hour's ride from me. And will probably check out the practice sessions tomorrow.
It looks like there's only a few miles of road they'll be riding (apart from Brands Hatch circuit). So I expect it will be packed come the weekend.
Click to expand...

It is on the 5th and 6th, so Wednesday and Thursday
 
D

davefb

Guru
from gruaniad live feed , with or without an engine some people like winning :smile:

"Cycling
Italy's Alex Zanardi won gold in his H4 time trial with a time of 24:50.22."

 
buddha

buddha

Veteran
What a great atmosphere today! And lots of places to watch on the A20.
Sarah Storey went by too quickly for me to realise it was her, at first. Best of all was seeing the one-legged chap from Ghana.
For some reason though, my journey's there and back seemed to include every hill with a 'chevron' in the north downs.
 
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