The 'Superhuman' Games

Been there, seen that … got the T-shirt! (credit: Caroline Churton)

I couldn’t quite believe it – after many frustrating hours spent at the computer I finally managed to beat all those other people desperately trying to obtain tickets for the Paralympics and, just a couple of days before they started, succeeded in acquiring two for the morning session of athletics on 8 September 2012. I had been captivated by the Olympics and, like much of the rest of the country, was suffering from a huge Olympics hangover, for which there was really only one cure – a visit to the Paralympics to see for myself the heroic achievements of the athletes and to experience the amazing and inspirational atmosphere that the London 2012 Games had generated.

Arrival and First Impressions

We had been warned by various people that the queues for travel and entry to the Olympic Park could be enormous, so we decided to make a really early start to allow for this possibility. The train from Hertford North would take me directly to King’s Cross and as my brother was travelling up from West Sussex we agreed to meet at St Pancras so that we could then take the Javelin to Stratford International together. The large concourse with its zigzagging barriers near the entrance to the Javelin departure area at St Pancras confirmed that long queues were expected, but as we arrived there was none to be seen. Our journey was quick and easy, just six minutes on the high-speed train, and in no time at all we arrived at Stratford.

Welcome to the Paralympics (credit: Caroline Churton)

Having negotiated our way through the huge Westfield shopping centre, we sailed through the Olympic Park security checkpoints (no queues or delays), were greeted by the smiling volunteers we’d heard so much about, and before long we were walking under those big welcoming entrance signs to the Park and catching our first glimpse of the Olympic Stadium. Wow!

The Olympic Stadium (credit: Caroline Churton)

Our early arrival meant that we had plenty of time to get our bearings, fill up the water bottles, take those first photographs, and have a leisurely wander around some of the quieter areas along the waterways before we needed to find our way to our seats in the Stadium. The weather was perfect – warm (later very hot) and sunny, with barely a cloud in sight – which showed off all the iconic venues and the beautifully landscaped areas at their best.

The wildflowers, whilst perhaps not quite as impressive as they were during the Olympics, were nevertheless still lovely and provided a great backdrop to the dramatic architecture of the main venues. We were surprised to come across Gloriana, the royal barge used by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh during The Thames Jubilee Pageant a few weeks previously, which was moored alongside one of the wildflower areas.

The royal barge, Gloriana (credit: Caroline Churton)

The Orbit (credit: Caroline Churton)

The Olympic cauldron (credit: Caroline Churton)

Into the Stadium

We had great seats – quite high up, but not far from the finish line and with excellent views of that stunning cauldron and the medal podium – and what made them rather special was that they were in an area previously used by the media, which meant that we had free-standing chairs (bigger than the standard fixed seats) in front of a continuous table, presumably used by the media for their laptops, cameras and the other equipment required to file their reports. The advantage for us was that we could move around much more freely and had plenty of space to lay out our cameras, binoculars, programmes, picnics, water bottles and Union Jacks!

I was there … (credit: Caroline Churton)

Our view of the Stadium (credit: Caroline Churton)

Athletes in the Men’s 100m T11 (visual impairment) semi-finals with their guide runners (credit: Caroline Churton)

Apart from USA’s Tatyana McFadden (nicknamed ‘The Beast’!), who was racing in the 100m T54 heats, there were no really big names competing that morning – Oscar Pistorius (RSA) and Nathan Stephens (GB) would be in action during the evening session – and only three British athletes were taking part in the early heats. It didn’t matter. We all cheered every athlete as if they were one of ‘ours’ and as if they were racing in a final. Even in the heats several PBs and World Records were achieved, with the information flashed up on the large information screens at each end of the Stadium.

Crossing the finish line – the Men’s 100m T34 round 1 (credit: Caroline Churton)

The atmosphere was fantastic and the noise of the crowd’s roar was deafening. When watching on TV the level of the roar had seemed constant, but in reality it followed the athletes around the track, reaching its height as they passed in front of each section of the crowd – an undulating wave of sound. Waves of the Mexican kind also made an appearance in between events at various points (continuing for at least two complete circuits of the Stadium – that’s quite a long way!) and we all sang an exuberant version of ‘YMCA’, complete with appropriate arm gestures! Even the officials and security personnel joined in, such was the infectious enthusiasm of the crowd.

The Women’s Javelin Throw F37/38 (credit: Caroline Churton)

One of the remote-controlled Minis (credit: Caroline Churton)

The session that morning included track events of various distances (100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and a 4 x 400m relay), with some athletes competing on foot, some (if visually impaired) with guide runners and some in racing wheelchairs, as well as various field events — women’s shot put, men’s triple jump, and both men’s and women’s javelin throw.

The latter caught our attention in a rather unexpected way as we were so intrigued by the miniature remote-controlled Minis that were used to convey each javelin back to base after it had been thrown! At the end of the morning session, when most of the crowd had left the Stadium, we caught some of the volunteers and other track officials having fun racing these little cars along the track!

As well as the scheduled events there were also numerous medal ceremonies – the rather complicated categorization of Paralympic events, reflecting the degree of disability of the athletes, makes for a greater number of events over each distance or within each discipline, so there were lots of ceremonies to fit in during the morning.

Clare Balding (far left) applauding the Women’s Javelin F37/38 medallists (credit: Caroline Churton)

The medal bearers (credit: Caroline Churton)

The final one of our session generated possibly the greatest cheer from the crowd, not for the medal winners this time but for Clare Balding, presenter of Channel 4’s main Paralympics programme, who presented the flower posies to the medallists in the Women’s Javelin F37/38 event (won by Shirlene Coelho of Brazil, with a World Record). She seemed quite taken aback by the warmth of the crowd’s response.

Around the Park

Our session was over all too soon and we were reluctant to leave the Stadium, but of course we wanted to explore the rest of the Park.

The Velodrome (credit: Caroline Churton)

The Aquatics Centre (credit: Caroline Churton)

The crowds had built up considerably by this time and there was a real buzz everywhere. It was also extremely hot so we headed off towards the Wetlands area to find some shade under the trees and near the water. After a relaxing spell there and then a bite to eat in the Street Market (and a rather good fruit punch!), we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Park, checking out all those iconic venues and a distant view of the Olympic Village (the GB area bedecked with Union Jacks), and simply soaking up the great atmosphere.

Watching the action in the Aquatics Centre on the Park Live big screen (credit: Caroline Churton)

There was a real festival spirit — and some good music — at the Bandstand on the River Lawns, and the Park Live areas were packed with people enjoying the action on the big screen, particularly the events going on in the Aquatics Centre, one of which featured Ellie Simmonds.

Having had such an early start that morning we had assumed that we’d be ready to leave for home by late afternoon or thereabouts. However, the time just sped by and as we noticed the first flush of pink in the sky we realized that if we stayed a little longer we’d catch what promised to be a spectacular sunset and would see the Stadium floodlit in all its glory. It was worth waiting for – a great finale to a wonderful and very enjoyable day!

The floodlit Stadium (credit: Caroline Churton)

The Stadium at dusk (credit: Caroline Churton)

The Afterglow

Looking back now at those amazing seven weeks of the Olympics and Paralympics, during what turned out to be a truly memorable summer for the UK, one of the most striking aspects of that time was how the Games seemed to affect the mood of the whole nation. Everyone was talking about the latest exciting race or nail-biting competition, sometimes even to people they didn’t know (Mayor of London Boris Johnson summed that up so well when he said to the competitors during his speech at the Athletes’ Parade, ’… for the first time in living memory you caused Tube train passengers to break into spontaneous conversation with their neighbours about subjects other than their trod-on toes.’!), and for a while we forgot about the gloomy economic situation and the miserable weather we had endured for much of the so-called summer. People felt uplifted, smiled more, were proud, and inspired by the sporting achievements they had witnessed during these incredible Games.

We also learned much more about paralympic sport than ever before, acknowledging that we were watching elite athletes who just happened to have some form of disability but who had overcome not only the rigorous demands of their training regimes but also their physical limitations to compete at the very highest level. Our admiration knew no bounds – Team ParalympicsGB produced a host of new ‘superhuman’ sporting heroes!

There is much talk about the legacy of the London 2012 Games. One of the greatest legacies of the Paralympics would surely be a permanent shift, for the better, in people’s perceptions of both disability and disabled sport. Now that would be a legacy to be proud of, wouldn’t it?