Millhouse

Do you mean performance enhancing drugs or just a bunch of cainers harvested from nightclubs around the world?

We should also make the tug-of-war mainstream.

scrubbedexpat141

Yes.

Just had a phone call from my pal at Brownstock in the UK. He is off his face.

I'd love to see him run 100m right now.

Norm_uk

Performance enhancing drugs of course. Nightclubs are their own very special Olympics already.

Tug of war has always been mainstream...but very school fete type of thing.

N.

littlejimmy

I watched synchronised swimming after dropping some LSD once. It almost made sense.

The Dean

I still can't work out how there is a solo version of synchronised swimming.......

Autonomy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/disability-sport/19460868

World record holder Oscar Pistorius criticised the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) after he was beaten by Brazil's Alan Oliveira in the final of the Paralympic T44 200m.

“"You saw how far he came back. We aren't racing a fair race. I gave it my best. The IPC have their regulations”

Oscar Pistorius

Pistorius said Oliveira's artificial legs - known as blades - are too long.

oh.....

The Dean

How ironic.............. the man who has an unfair advantage beaten by the man with an even bigger unfair advantage......

Tough luck Oscar - anyone good enough for THE Olympics should be able to beat a man who has to run on blades.

scrubbedexpat141

Sorry TD. Just noticed your last post.

Also noticed this today:

Second place for GB at the moment!

1 China
35 Gold
24 Silver
28 Bronze
87 Total

2 GREAT BRITAIN
15 Gold
22 Silver
14 Bronze
51 Total

3 Australia
13
8
15
36

4 Ukraine
13
6
10
29

Autonomy

Don't you think it's odd that USA are not up there?

Beaverstate

Weren't aware they were going on

scrubbedexpat141

Yeah I do actually. You'd think the amount of money they pump into sports generally, as well as the olympics...that they'd have a big pot for the Paralympics to use?

Also, sadly, there must be plenty of wounded / injured servicemen and women that could be ideal competitors. I've seen several of the Brits are from that background.

Millhouse

So it's all coming to an end. Well done to all those that participated.

I have a question though and its one I've wanted to ask the whole time and one that had grown in my head the more have watched the games: for each event, is there a certain qualifying disability - or set of disabilities - that you must meet to qualify?

i.e. I see that not all sprinters have no legs, not all swimmers have no arms - so is it possible that two athletes with very different disabilities complete in the same event? That would seem to put some at a massive advantage with respect to the other?

How does it all work? This is a genuine question.

EDIT - answered my own question on the CBBC website...

The Dean

OK - you had to ask.............. the BBC's guide is as good as any..........

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/disability-sport/18934366

There are some 'grey areas', and much depends on the event in question. For example, in the 200m, having NO legs is better than one (the 'blades' work best as a pair - if you only have one, it is difficult to run around a bend).

There have always been accusations that some Paralympians declare their disability to be 'worse' than it really is (to get placed in an 'easier' event) but I haven't heard that one quite so often this year.

Victor Meldrew

I believe there are 5 main categories - amputees, partially sighted, cerebral palsy, wheelchair bound and intellectual disability.

These are further sub classified eg based on where the amputee's limb starts in relation to the joint etc.

In 'blind' football they all wear blindfollds to create a level playing field as some haver more sight than others.

It's quite fascinating when you look into it.

I watched some of it the other day and it was both fascinating and inspiring. The times for swimming and athletics are not far off that for able bodied.

Shame GB came 3rd overall by only 1 gold. They did extremely well

The Dean

OK - another note of discord from me...............

One of the problems with wheelchair events is that events that are normally very different in the regular Olympics have their differences diminished by the fact that all events require a similar style.

David Weir's achievement in winning 800m, 1500m, 5000m and Marathon is astonishing, but diminished slightly by the fact that the four events - very different usually, with different physical requirements - become winnable by the same man with the same 'technique' in each event.

Just a thought............. (mind you, I feel that way about swimming in the main Olympics - how difficult is it, if you can win the 200m freestyle, to win the 100m and 400m freestyles as well?)