Day 2

DAY 2   

MORNING

In the swimming Helen Fredrickson of Great Britain won the woman’s 400 metres freestyle S8 and broke the 5 minute barrier which I feel is quite an awesome accomplishment.

In the woman’s s9 Backstroke 100 Metres Team GB’s Steph Millward won her heat and won it well there was no one near here she could have floated the last 10 metres. Steph was beat by Australia’s Ellie Cole in the final later in the evening.

In the cycling Laura Tunnam of Great Britain and Caroline Walsh of Ireland were not strong enough to get a medal.

Lynch from Great Britain reached the bronze medal race but was very unfortunate to be in a race where two world records had been broken. To catch that type of time you have to be almost perfect and he was so close to perfection….he was very unlucky. Mark Colbourne from Great Britain destroys the world record in C1 but was asked to reclassify because they thought he was too good.

Darren Kenny from Great Britain finished in third position, this must have disappointed him considering the legendary status that Kenny has held. Enda Smith of Ireland was no where near that time.

In athletics 

Mohamad Angolun from Morocco also gaining a world record in the 400 meters T13 as I saw it I could not believe that many records were being broken.

Hannah Cockroft showed that she will be the one to beat in the woman’s 100metres T34 she will be of her own in her wheelchair and I did not ever think I would say that. 

AFTERNOON

When I was watching the Iran v Argentina game in the blind football I was very impressed by the amount of skill to simply pass a ball as all of the competitors are blindfolded. They did get the passes horribly wrong at times but I feel the ball control is awesome. It does seem like the winning and loosing of games is on one good pass. There does seem to be a noise off the boards that they use. I just wonder is the ball weighted because there seems to be no high passes. To compare against regular soccer is completely different. You do feel excited when goals are scored Argentina win 2-0. Great Britain got a 1-1 draw against Spain, first Spain scored a penalty with a Dave Clarke absolute peach to equalise just before half time. I really think blind football is a brilliant achievement.

In the wheelchair basketball I was disappointed by Great Britain as the most points they got in a period in the first three periods was 6 and the least Australia got in the first three was 11. They should be able to be better than that surely.51-24 to Australia.  Australia may be ready to get out of the group while Britain has very slim hopes, Britain needs to refocus and regroup quickly. South Africa lost to Spain by 50 points to 74 this says to me that Spain is ready for this huge challenge. Also the USA comfortably beat the Italians.  

In cycling Jow Cundy was cheated out of a medal as there was a small technical fault with either his bike or the equipment but Britain did get a medal as Cabello got the gold.   

Mark Le Colbourn from Great Britain got gold in the individual pursuit. But did you know that before Colbourn had his accident he wasn’t a strong cyclist. 

 Did you know that Ireland only started getting competitors in the Paralympics in Athens 8 years ago having 1 then 7 in Beijing 

 

EVENING

In the swimming. Wang gets gold Ollie Hind gets silver and Sam Hind gets bronze. Did you know that Ollie and Sam Hind are brothers? And they also represent Great Britain. 

Today we have the fastest of race in the pool the 50 metres s10 class.  Brasil of Brazil won first, Stein from Canada in second and Pasterfield gets the bronze. I would wonder how someone one with a disability like that can go that fast.

Watching the men’s 100 metre backstroke made me think about the ways that they use science to train you how to put your hands into the water or how to kick. I think would take a long to both understand and learn if you didn’t like school in the first place you would find this type of swimming pretty difficult. I did see a show before the Olympics that made me think in this way.

 The woman’s s11 was fascinating to watch considering the fact that they were blind.  They used big poles to touch at the end to tell them when to turn. To swim without sight must be absolutely terrifying.

 In most of the sports there has been capacity crowd after capacity crowd. There have probably been more people going to the first 2 days of the Paralympics than the actual Olympics. I think shows how popular the Paralympics are.

In Athletics Hannah Cockroft from Great Britain won gold in the100 metres t14. She controlled the race from the start she looked brilliant as she got closer and closer to the finish. 

 

NORHERN IRELAND ATHLETES

Downpatricks Bethany’s Firth finished second in her heat and fourth overall in her S14 100 Metres backstroke heat this morning. She went into the final and she won it racing for the Ards club in Northern Ireland and that is Ireland’s first medal!

Did you know three years ago Bethany Firth could not swim !!!! 

 Newry’s Lawrence Mc Givern, a S9 100 metre backstroke swimmer, beat his PB by almost 2 seconds today.  If there is ever a time to do this it is at the Paralympics. Lawrence finished 8^th in the final but to reach a final is an achievement in itself.

 Sally Brown finished in 4^th with a season best but failed to reach the final as it was a slower race she was very unlucky as she did finish fourth.    

 

Jason Smythe got a world record in 10.54 seconds in his 100m T13 heat today. Watch out for him tomorrow in the final at 7.15pm. 

My athlete of the day has to be Bethany Firth as this is a great achievement for her.

 

 

Day 1

DAY 1

THURSDAY  MORNING

 

The first sport out of the block was the class 3 wheelchair table tennis where German Swhmdbuger beat French man Guyan in straight sets.

 On the other channel there was cycling with the individual pursuit. I think television does so well because if you are actually at the event you would not see as much as you can from watching TV. 

I do think that having the top 2 racers racing for gold and 3^rd and 4^th racing for bronze from the heats to be unfair because if you race early you have a disadvantage because you do not know what time you have to beat.  

Sarah Story (team GB) got a world record in a qualifier in cycling and she goes into the gold medal race against Anna Herosiva.  Crystal Lane from GB is going into the bronze medal match against Fiona Sutherton.

In the swimming Jonathan Fox got a world record for Team GB.  

I do like all of the competitive nature of the races but as the races disability advantages were explained it confused me. I do find it to be very interesting how some of the racers are on the swimming blocks while others are in the water in the same race. I think they should all be in the water as that gives some an advantage.      

 I find interesting as to how they decide how a disability affects them in their sports. I also found it very interesting how the swimmers with no arms push themselves.    

In the wheelchair basketball the Spanish cruised to 67 points to 40 victories over the Italians Danny Rodreguez having a quality game. Spain won every quarter of the match.

 

AFTERNOON

 

I had a look at the Judo and I remembered the way from watching the Olympics  that they get their winners to be confusing and I still find it confusing.  Rhani Isimozof won his match due to a judge’s decision. LI Ja Dong went through to the semi final on an automatic win.  Ben Quilter is beaten by Anora an ipon which means one great throw on the back and you win the match. I do think that Judo can be very exciting.

 In the first of Great Britain’s wheelchair basketball matches they had their chances at least early in the first period but the game got away from them as the Dutch won by 62 points to 35 Amy Conroy was Britain’s star Von Vegan did well for the Dutch.     

The C1- C3 final time trial in cycling was very good even I watched it and I don’t normally watch this type of thing. There were about 3 world records all broken in this competition with Chinas Li Zuang Zu getting Gold, Britains Mark Lee Colbourne gettng silver and Tomas Graf from Germany getting bronze.

 

In the women’s cycling Alison Jones wins the bronze in C1-3 individual pursuit beating Denise Shindler. Simone Kennedy lost to S Zeng in the gold medal race

Alexander green won bronze in the C4 individual pursuit. Susan Powell beat Megan Fisher in the gold medal race.In the C5 individual pursuit bronze medal race Crystal Lane lost to Fiona Southorn. In the gold medal match Sarah Story Anna Harawaska.

 

James Brown from Portaferry competed in the 4k pursuit in the bronze medal match -  I was very disappointed for James as he lost his race by only 2 seconds to Miguel Angel Clamente Solano. First the Spanish were leading then the Irish pair seemed to gain a comfortable lead before the Spanish came back bit by bit to lead the NI rider. I was just gutted for him.

 

In Wheelchair Basketball the USA beat France in the first half. The French did try to come back in the third quarter but the USA were still too strong winning a tight one. The USA though did control the match for long periods and if the French want to win any medal they need to sort a lot out.

 

EVENING

 

We started with a world record in the men’s 100m S6 backstroke for Zheng from China , another Chinese man, Jia, took the silver and Iwanow, from Germany, got the bronze.

In the swimming the women’s 100 metre backstroke S6 was won by Lu Dong with no arms who was competing against the others with one or two arms. I find this incredible. Niri Kindrid of GB got a silver with a Dutch girl getting bronze.

 

They were also fighting for medals in the Judo today Ben Quilter managed to get a bronze and you can find other results somewhere else as it is impossible to do both the Judo and Swimming.

 

Tomorrow’s blog: Today I have put in a lot of detail to my blog, it might be too much. Tomorrow I will try to focus on my highlights of the day.

Every day I am going to have an athlete of the day. Today it is the swimmer Lu Dong who broke the world record.

 

My Interview with the Lord Mayor

Check iout my interview with the Lord Mayor on Saturday:

OPENING CEREMONY

 

The start of the Paralympics and the opening ceremony was last night…. London Paralympics

 

The fact that it started in Stoke Mandeville in London must give a feeling of pride from people from the UK.

 

 

At the start we have got John Snow a newsreader who I think will find this a new experience and he might struggle, Jonathan Edwards who did the athletics events at the Olympics and Ade Adepatan who has proved himself on That Paralympics Show. Also Claire Balding who worked for the BBC sport team chatting to a lot of people involved in the opening ceremony Claire will shine.  Alex Booker whom is  a new recruit talked to the Prime Minister in a way that made people with disabilities feel strong and to see them in a completely different way I have not seen Alex before but I think he will do ok.

We also saw a new reporter talk to blind runners and hearing what they have to say.. You can not help but be inspired and take that into your own life. We then saw Boris Johnson say how attitudes had changed in the last 20 years and how he also enjoyed wheelchair basketball. Martine Wright sat beside a suicide bomber on a train and all she saw was blackness, no pain, another person came down to help her and saved her life. She decided to join the sitting volleyball team and qualified for team GB but the boards didn’t allow the team to qualify until March 2012.

 

 

The stadium was packed to see Steven Hawking who started with a big bang which fire was going into the middle centre of the stage. Next there was a special tribute to Rhianna song ‘umbrella’ which I felt they could have done more with possibly using lights or angles.   Next there was the opening of a big book using angles to show as much of it as possible. Everyone then wore glitter things and sang a song about people’s rights which I think needs to be understood on certain places and about people as a whole. The Queen then came out then the Army Navy and RAF brought out the Union Jack. They then played the national anthem of GB.

Next the countries came in and I found this a bit boring as it moved along very slowly. There were some interesting facts talked about on commentary like the 45 year old javelin thrower and the amount of nations not giving their Paralympians money over the athletes walking past. Team GB came out to confetti. There were lights in the crowd which I thought were nice. A classical singer entered and sang a song about the countries of the world I wasn’t that pushed on her but the song was good the other woman just confused me.

Seb Coe and Sir Phillip Grevan came out and made speeches Seb can pull out a speech. Sir Phippip Grevan seems to be vey proud as the head of the Paralympics Then the queen opened the Paralympics and there were fireworks. The flag came in through the GB wheelchair basketball under 22 team. It looked very good with the cone shapes coming out from the centre. The armed services put it on the pole. The Paralympic anthem came next which I thought was quite nice. Liz Johnson Richard Alcott and David Hunter took the Paralympic oath. There was a special thing to do with knowledge and books.

Later Steven Hawking  made a beautiful speech about respect. Then Joe Townsend a man with no legs went up into the sky and hands the flame over to Margret Maurn a member of the GB 1948 Parolympic games. At the end someone sang ‘I am who I am’ and was just beautiful and the fireworks finished it off.

In conclusion like most things like this there were things I liked and things I did not but I thought that it was a quality Paralympics Opening.

 

 

 

Saturdays interviews part 1

There is a matter of hours until the Paralympics start with the opening ceremony at 9pm tonight. I wonder what it is they will be trying to do. I am very excited about what and who is coming and who will make their moment in history count. I have checked out Channel 4s coverage and I am disappointed as there is only one live stream. I will be trying to get as much coverage as I can but I may miss bits of evening sessions and little bits during the day. I will try to watch as much of the Paralympics as I can and report back to you.

Today I will show you a clip of a wheelchair basketball match that I saw on Saturday at the Flame Festival in Belfast.

Here is my interview with Jean Daly, a female wheelchair athlete

 

I have a few more interviews which I will put on later, including one of me trying out some of the sports!

I really hope both you and me enjoy the Paralympics ready set go. I hope to get started tonight or tomorrow with the opening ceremony and first few events

Paralympic Flame Festival - Belfast

 

I am from Eglish in Co Tyrone so that meant that we had to travel for an hour in the car. My Mom and my Aunt came with me. I listened to my headphones on the journey.

 

 

 

Rosie  from Livenet gave us all wrist bands to allow us in.

We went to the festival and there was a bit of a wait because of security. There was a big stage and there was  the music  playing. It was seriously loud. The first thing I had to was do an interview then I met Rosie’s friend and her kids Daniel and Scarlet and the baby. A lot of the time when I was bored I talked to Daniel.

 

 

 

There were a lot of things on TV screens at the back showing of the Paralympics and the NI athletes and what they do. They were also advertising that Paralympics show, a show on channel 4 and certain sports from that show.

 

 

 

 

 

They were giving away a lot of free fruit which I found to be slightly confusing especially apples and bananas..

 

 

 

I got a few interviews with wheelchair athletes. One made a joke which showed me he was comfortable with me and with  who he is. He also gave me big compliment on my interview technique. I also talked to the lord mayor of Belfast but I asked him the wrong types of questions but when you know little this will happen. Perhaps we should have written the questoins down but it was OK.

 

 

 

I also went into this sports area which had all of the different sports that you can do. I tried the curling from the seat and I learned that is to do with weight and power and  also power in the arms. I tried the wheelchair basketball and learned that was to do with where you shoot from and how you shoot ....its all to do with getting the ball high. I also tried the blind football and that was a quite unique experience as you can see absolute black and it makes you think how people can live their lives like that. I also looked at the boccia and what I have seen of them on TV interests me.  

 

 

 

 

I managed to see the last part of Joe Mc Eldreys song list and an amazing fire display.  We saw the NI flame being lit and all the people who were doing the jobJ Janet Gray who is a blind skier carried the flame onto the stage. . There were a lot of people there . I thought that the flags coming in were Dublin flags but I think that they were supposed to represent something,as when they moved closer they appeared to be triangles. We then went home and I would say that the Paralympics was a good experience for me and in parts I did enjoy them.   

 

 

     

Fridays Focus

Fridays Focus

I found this on the BBC website and I think that to understand the sport itself you have to understand the ranges of disabilities of each athlete. This makes it simple and to the point. You may not find it all interesting but if you have a particular interest in few sports you may find it useful.  

 

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

 

The sports that I will be watching are Wheelchair tennis, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair basketball Volleyball, table tennis, swimming, rowing, judo, goal ball, football, cycling and athletics, as they would be most pleasing to my eye. But you can watch what you like.

 

I will be in Belfast tomorrow and will report later. 

Extra NI Athletes

I will be going to the flame lighting party on Saturday and I think that this will be very interesting. I will get back to you as soon as I see fit to report on it. I know very little myself and would like pieces of information.

 

Here are the other competitors from NI:

 

Sally Brown from Ballykelly Co. Derry

Goes in 100m and 200m

 

Because she is young (17) I feel that she has potential to do anything but I think her time is in Rio not London.

 

James Brown from Portaferry Co. Down

Cycling

 

 

 If he has got the endurance I feel that he can do well but I’m sorry to say there is slim chance of a medal

 

Elizabeth Byrne from Co. Armagh

 Equestrian

 

 

I do not understand this sport so can not voice an opinion

 

Bethany Firth (15) from Downpatrick Co. Down 

Swimming 

 

 

I feel that with the explosive power needed in swimming anything is possible especially as she has had a medal before in the European Championships but this is a whole new ball game. At only 15 maybe her time is also in Rio although Ye Shiwen at only 16 years old beat the world record in the Olympics this year so anything is possible for young Bethany!

 

Laurence Mc Given from Rostrevor Co Down

 Swimming

Even with his high ranking there is a slim chance for him.

Ones to watch

I have chosen these 4 athletes as I think they will do well . Below I have given my thoughts on each one.

Sharron Vernard

Sharron Venard has got the best chance for team GB to win a medal for NI. She has got a very strong personality and has got the experience that you need with a good eye. I feel that she do very well….Go team NI.

Jason Smyth

Jason is one of the contenders that I think can do very well. He has won medals at the Paralympics before and I feel that that little bit of experience is key to his success. For a small country like NI to produce a competitor who wants to compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics games is quite incredible. This proves that a small country can do anything. Jason is a visually impaired paralympian .





Michael McKillop

If form is anything to go by this guy has a chance and with a world record in his bag he can go very far. I feel that if he runs well he will get a medal lets hope it’s a gold. He does represent team NI and he will do very well.

 

Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Pistorous is in my opinion the greatest runner ever. He does not have the advantage of brain to leg which means that he does not have that natural thing that others have. I think he should not be forgotten as in my opinion he is a God in sport and should be recognised as such. You see statues of former footballers outside grounds and I think he should have grander recognition. I will write more about Oscar later.

These are the athletes I will be following closely on my blog...I will tell you some interesting facts as I go along.

Team NI at paralympics

Ten NI Paralympic hopefuls in contention for London

By Leo McGann BBC Sport NI

The nights might be cool and the skies grey but summer is almost here and with it comes the spectacle and thrill of London 2012.

Much of the build-up has revolved around the return of the Olympics to the UK capital after 64 years but there is also rising anticipation ahead of London's first Paralympic games.

These will be the biggest ever staged and athletes from Northern Ireland are set to feature prominently.

Ten local athletes are currently in contention to compete: eight for Ireland, and two for Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Competing for Ireland, Jason Smyth and Michael McKillop are already two of the biggest names in Paralympic sport.

Partially-sighted Smyth won the T13 100 and 200 metres in Beijing and like Oscar Pistorius, hopes to compete in track and field in both games this summer.

Earlier this week, Glengormley's McKillop became the first man to break a world record in the Olympic Stadium and he is the favourite for T37 800 metres and 1500 metres with the metric mile featuring in the London programme - unlike four years ago.

Schoolgirls Bethany Firth and Sally Brown have far less experience but the medals and reputations they have earned in their short careers make them live contenders.

NI Paralympic contenders

• Team Ireland
• Jason Smyth - defending T13 100m and 200m champion
• Michael McKillop - T37 800m champion from 2008
• Bethany Firth - European freestyle 200m swimming silver medallist
• James Hamilton - S14 swimming hopeful
• Stephen Campbell - S11 swimmer hoping to compete in second Paralympics
• Laurence McGivern - S9 swimmer competed in 2010 Commonwealth Games
• Eilish Byrne - Eighth in equestrian event in Beijing
• Andrew Fitzgerald - Irish cycling 4K pursuit record holder
• Team GB & NI
• Sally Brown - T46 200m world bronze medallist
• Sharon Vennard - GB Archery team member

Firth, who is only 15, hopes to represent Ireland in swimming and last year took silver in the S14 200m Freestyle at the European Championships.

Sprinter Brown from Ballykelly, also 15, is one of youngest members of the British squad and won a bronze medal in the T46 200 metres at the 2011 IPC World Championships.

The Irish Team will be announced on 28 June, and that day will make its way to Antrim for a pre-games training camp, the first to take place in Northern Ireland.

The British team, which is likely to number 300-350 compared to Ireland's 40-42, is being announced on a more gradual basis, with 102 named already and the final selection to be confirmed in mid-July.

Liam Harbinson, CEO of Paralympics Ireland, says this year's Irish team will receive unprecedented levels of support from the Irish Sports Council and Sport NI.

"This is at a whole different level than ever before," Harbinson told BBC Sport NI.

"To support the team in Beijing about 80 to 100 people travelled out to China.

"This time each athlete will have around 50 family and friends travelling. Everyone in Ireland will get a chance to see the games."

Harbinson feels that there has been progress since Beijing and that there is more of an interest in disabled sport which the exposure of London will only increase.

"One initiative we ran after Beijing was a programme called Paralliance - purely to try and get young people into a sport suitable to their impairment.

"We ran an event in May 2009 expecting about 50 people to turn up, we had over 400.

"Some of those were fast tracked. We reckon five or six of our team will have been introduced to their sport on that day. We are going to run a similar programme straight after London."

Barrys blog part 1

My name is Barry Jordan and I come from Eglish a small village in County Tyrone which also borders County Armagh. I have a mild form of Autism.

I have had an interest in sport since I was very small. My brother got me into soccer especially Liverpool I have also got an interest in GAA , rugby union and the Irish clubs and I would watch rugby league. I also like to see the Irish succeed in cricket but the long matches bore me. I have been watching a lot of the Olympics including odd sports like water polo and beach volleyball so I do expect to understand the Paralympics especially as I have been watching That Paralympics Show with Ade Adepitan and Iwan Thomas

 I have met a few people due to my interest in sport over the years. The first person I would care to mention is cousin Phillip who won All Ireland Gaelic Football championships. Another who I wouldn’t say a mean word about is Arthur Mc Crory who helped me to settle in secondary school and also helped me to do a project in the tech. I have also met Ireland Rugby Union international Paddy Johns to do a project. I also met Aidrain Logan in secondary school when I went up to UTV in Belfast.

I went to main stream school with the support of a classroom assistant. Because I knew a lot of facts about sports and was always very interested in all sports this made me popular with a lot of boys at school. Because I watched a lot of TV I knew a lot of things which interested other people and it helped me to have conversations with people.

I watch a lot of TV and I love to watch children’s cartoons but I also watch some drama, sit cons and reality shows