paralympic final piece

 This is my final piece on the Paralympics

This is a picture of me receiving my award for my coverage of the Paralympics

 

Here I am with my award 

When I was told that I was doing a piece about the Paralympics I loved it. There was a lot of stress at the start as trying to get as much of the right type of information was very difficult as there was so much on I did not know sometimes if I was watching the right sport. In the begging I was completely clueless but as the Paralympics went on I found it much easier.I got into a rhythm and looked forward to doing it every day.

Here are some of the comments I received.

Dear Rosaleen

Please convey my thanks and congratulations to Barry both on my own behalf and that of my colleagues ...  as well as to his collaborators on the film, Wendy and John and Orlaith and yourself ... for his really wonderful animation on the subject of digital switchover and the end of analogue TV as we have known it.  It is an excellent piece of a work. I love the two TV characters he has created.  I do hope he will continue to create such interesting work and wish you all well for the future.

Very best wishes

Denis

Denis Wolinski

National Manager, Northern Ireland

tel: 02890262031

mob: 07827278030

e-mail: denis.wolinski@digitaluk.co.uk

website: www.digitaluk.co.uk

Hi Rosie,

Thanks so much for sending this all through to me - much appreciated.

I'm off on leave on Monday so I will give Barry's mum a wee call on Wednesday and do a piece for the following week's paper  - (Wednesday, September 26 edition).

Many thanks again,

Louise

Louise Doyle

Journalist

Tyrone Constitution

t- 028 82242721
 

The LiveNet team have really enjoyed working with Barry! His enthusiasm, zest and interest in using ICT was clearly evident in the number of blogs posted and his creative use of photographic images.

I think Barry would be a great ambassador for LiveNet in showcasing how ICT can help connect people with one another for purposes of sharing similar interests and information. Perhaps there is an opportunity for us to explore a volunteering role as 'ICT Ambassador' for Barry.

Rosie has a great personality with bundles of enthusiasm for LiveNet and the people she supports. Her rapport and keen interest in working with Barry has been fantastic.

Thanks

Tracy

                                  

closing cermony

CLOSING CEREMONY

 

A monster entered the stage representing the demons that fight the dreamers. The people in the centre move with the wind. A twirling flying object then went and there was a lot of fire played with, like a dance. Someone with a scooter came up and climbed a giant pole and the pole itself moved with the person on it. There then was some marching with fire. A royal car then came on stage and it looked rusty. They then did the British national anthem. Speeches were made.

 

The flags then came and turned into the shape of a heart with fireworks around it. There was some nice background music from Coldplay. There was then another speech about seasons. Flamethrowers then marked the ground.  There were people juggling with fire. An ugly horse then entered with a tank of some sort. Then a boat a Christmas tree a dragon some people on a giant fish and an old clock base came through. All of the people danced on their art pieces.

 

 

They then gave awards to the people of human spirit. They then show new members who have been voted in by the Paralympics athletes themselves and will go to the Paralympics council. A selection of volunteers then came in and the athletes then gave something to the volunteers.

 

Coldplay sang another song.  People were wearing costumes. There was then a massive yellow dragon. Two people did a nice dance in the air. People then went up in hot air balloons and landed on stage. One girl then rotated round in circles upwards. The balloons then went like fireworks. A girl danced around an icicle with fire on her hand then another and so on. They then took icicles away and someone went into the icicles which has a seat. They then lifted one in the air. There then seemed to be flying people with dark wingers in the background. All of these flying characters went around this one girl. Someone then came in on a 3 wheeled motorbike with fire in their hand. Two people then tried to hand cycle a rectangular object to the stage. They all danced again with lights.  They then put a bouncy ball and float into the fish’s eye and it opened the back of its head. A few people came out of it with a feather.

 

 People around the area did drum music and Rhianna enters and they sing. We then see the British Para orchestra. Rhianna enters in a royal chair that seems to move randomly and they sang ‘we’ve followed love in a hopeless place’. They all danced in costumes again. A girl with a horse came down from the sky. There was confetti everywhere.The armed forces then took down the Paralympics flag to some sad music.  The mayors then did the passing of the flag.

 

The mayor Rio did an exuberant wave they then did the national anthem of Brazil and a Brazil flag is raised. They did a short add for Rio. They then did some very impressive Brazilian dancing. Someone sang in what I think Spanish is. They then went back to dancing which I did not think was impressive. The back opened with a few people and what I think I have saw was a similar emblem which was used for the world cup then there was fireworks.

 

Then Seb Coe and Sir Philip Grevan came out to make speeches. Ellie Symons and Johnny Peacock turned off the Paralympics flame by walking away with it as well as a lot of other people and they moved into the centre stage. Rhianna then sang with Jay Z and all of the audience danced. Coldplay then gave a big mention to the athletes before singing. I had a look at the graffiti on the piano and I thought it was   cool. They then danced in the rain there were fireworks. Union Jacks came up with the words Thank you and then there was a final speech. Claire Balding and Ade Adapatan then chat to people.       

my final london 2012 blog

MY FINAL LONDON 2012 BLOG

 

Great Britain and Ireland did a lot better than either countries wildest expectations.  Britain having 108 medals 31 gold, 39 silver and 38 bronze medals with help from David Weir who got 4 gold medals, Ellie Symons who got gold silver and bronzes and Sarah Story who equalled the British record held by Dame Tanne Grey Thomson.

Ireland had 16 medals…. 8 gold 3 silver and 5 bronze medals. They had help from team NI with Micheal Mc Killop and Jason Smyth on the track getting 2 gold medals each and  also Irishman Mark Rohan getting two on the hand cycle.

 

Great Britain say thank you to their fans today  while Ireland return to their homes as they are all tired.

I do apologize but I can not get the link for the history of the Paralympics that Rosie Maguire gave me.

Working on the Paralympics was very exciting and it did not feel like work I enjoyed it very much and would like to thank Rosie, Tracy Mearns and Keiran Quinn for teaching me the basics of a blog. I did have help from my family correcting what mistakes I had made but every day I wanted to report on what was coming next. I really enjoy working at something I have such an interest in. I tried to do it as well as I could and hope it was good enough.

I would also like to thank you the reader for reading my blog whenever you had the time to do so I hope that you got as much enjoyment out of reading it as I did writing it.  

day 11

DAY 11

 

It is officially the final day of the Paralympics today.

 

This morning I watched the Paralympics games breakfast show . I thought that the way they talked about the end of the Paralympics was very good and the way that they ran their show would help the Paralympics. I have always been a fan of Rick Edwards’s especially on t4 and I liked him on this as well. I liked the way that they did the interviews with the guests.  

 

In the Athletics Oscar Pistorius from South Africa proved a fitting finale to the track and field after winning the T44 400 metres. He finished almost four seconds ahead of Blake Leaper and fellow American David Price who got the bronze  ,

 

In the swimming Brit Ellie Symonds got a silver medal and was denied a gold medal by Victoria Arlean who got an awesome world record in the 100 metre freestyle

 

MARATHON

 

 

 

 

Brit Shelly Woods picked up a silver medal in the woman’s marathon T54 loosing out to Shirley Reilly of Australia but it was a very close race between the two at the end. The bronze medal went to Sandra Graf from Germany  

 

In the men’s Marathon T12 Alberto Suarez Lazo of Spain cursed home for gold with a time of 2.24.50. The silver was fought and won by Elken Alonso Serina Moreno of Colombia. The bronze went to Abderrahim Zhiou of Tunisia

 

In the men’s marathon t46 the gold went to Brazils Tao Sena Silver to Spain’s Abderrahman Ait Khamouch and bronze to Fredric Van Den Hende of Belgium     

 

Brit David Wier took control of the last 150 metres to win the Men’s marathon T54 and get the gold medal Marcel Hug from China got the silver and Kurt Fearnley from Australia got the bronze  

 

 

 

7 A SIDE FOOTBALL

 

In the 7^th place play off Great Britain played the USA. The American goal was a bad back pass to the goalkeeper who kicks the ball off the striker and it goes in bad goalie mistake. The British equaliser was a good individual run and shot. Half time 1-1.In the second half each team had their chances but it was a deadlock full time 1-1. Extra time started and Britain got a second though a great individual breakaway goal first the USA attack and bring the ball into Britain’s box one pass to the middle of the field then the attacker takes on everybody and puts the ball into the top corner.  For Britain’s third the defender wins the ball and runs with it passes it down the wing Getting the ball and passing it down the wing into George Fletchers feet he hits a cross the wind takes it into the goal what a fluke 3-1 Great Britain

 

 

In the bronze medal match between Iran and Brazil Iran started well and getting a goal after 16 minutes from a throw in on the right side then a bit of dribbling and a fantastic shot into the opposite corner 1-0 Iran they then go off to celebrate with their team. Iran then got a second a couple of minutes later and it was all to do with good passing down the wing again taking a free kick then a good pass down the right side again a second pass into the centre takes it out wide and hits an awesome shot from outside the box completely at the other side striker shoos into the left post and keeper on the right cant get down to cover fast enough. The third the Iranian hits the free kick it deflects off the defender and back to the free kick taker who passes to another player he then takes a shot keeper deflects on to a third man who scores. Iran then play about wit the ball just outside the box one direct pass leaves the striker one on one with the goalie he takes the shot but there is too much power on it 57 minutes gone now 4-0 Iran The final goal was quite a simple one with a simple pass doing the damage as it brings the attacker one on one with the keeper again. Final score Iran 5 Brazil 0 Brazil have more possession and dominate every aspect of the game possession, Corners, Free Kicks least number of fouls and yellow cards but they seem not to put any of that into a goal

 

In the gold medal match Russia played Ukraine. Russia has been the better side at least in the first 15 minutes of play but there have been no goals. With possession shots on goal and corners Russia have had the better chances. They are getting into Ukraine’s half a lot testing the goalkeeper but not having that chance as Ukraine are doing a defensive professional job. Russia has a throw in they pass the ball around their own defence then a long ball and a flick leaves Ramanov one on one with the keeper and he passes the ball into the net 1-0 Russia. Russia are Paralympics champions this is their first paralympic gold medal since Sydney 2000.   

   

 

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY

 

The bronze medal match between USA and Japan could have went any way as both teams have had 2 point leads at one point in the quarter but the USA came out on top leading by 12 points to 11.The second period was relatively even also where Japan got the game back to level but again the USA won the period and leaving the half time score 24 USA Japan 21 half time. The USA got control of the match in the third quarter as Japanese errors made life easier for the USA after the third quarter the USA lead by 39 points to 31 and Japan did make a game of the final Quarter but the USA still won it 14 -12 final score USA 53 Japan 43 USA get the bronze medal.  

 

Competing for gold Australia looked very comfortable as the steals were coming for them every time. At this stage they lead by 18-11 and looked like it is going to be a lot worse for Canada. In the second period Australia just looked like they are in cruze control as they make the gap bigger with 33 points to 21 lead. In the third quarter the game was a lot closer and Canada could have chipped at the deficit but Australia seem to know how to pull a game their way as they now lead by 49 points to 35. Australia also won the final quarter by 16 – 15 winning the match by 66 goals to 51. Australia were the superior team. If the second half defined this match the game would have been a lot closer but Australia had an awesome first half and that is what gave them Paralympics gold. Austrilia would be a different team without Chris Bond 

 

 

I do plan to do a blog on the closing cermony and one more blog tomorrow looking at the amazing athletes in the press, the homecoming and the film that I asked for you to see I will give an opinion on it.      

day 10

DAY 10

 

I watched the wheelchair fencing today and was surprised how tricky and dangerous the sport could be. I was also confused on how there were three events and all three of them had completely different rules and to win a medal you have to be able to do well in all of them

 

 ATHLETICS

 

Yesterday Great Britain’s Josie Pierson won discus gold for team GB in the F51-53

 

Irelands Jason Smyth followed in the footsteps of Usain Bolt by winning the double, double. He was the only man in the race who went under 22 seconds Russians Artem Labzin and Artem Loginov

 

In the 800 metres the 18 year old Abbellatif Bakka of Aljeria wins the gold but for the first lap they were all in a group then the medallists came clear and took the race on themselves after the bell David Korir of KenyaAdbelilah Mame of Mauritius gets the bronze

 

In the women’s Javelin throw Shirlene Coelho threw a world record of 37.86 metres to get gold Qanqan Jia of China got the silver with a throw of 31.62 metres and the bronze went to Georgia Beikoff of Australia

 

In the men’s 200 metres t38 Evan O’Hanlan of Australia got the gold an and won the double double . The silver went to Dyan Buis of South Africa and the bronze to Wenjun Zhou of China 

 

In the woman’s 400 metres t37 Neda Bahi from Tunisia won the gold Vikoriya Kravchenko from Ukraine got the silver and Evgeniya Trushinikova of Russia got the bronze

 

In the men’s javelin f54-56 Luis Alberto Zepeda Felix from Mexico got the gold AlexKuznetsov of Russia got the silver and Manolis Stefanoudakis of Greese got the bronze

 

In the woman's shot f57/58 Angeles Ortiz Hernandez of Mexico broke the world record as she threw 11.43 metres silver went to Stela Eneva of bulgeria and bronze to Eucharia Iyazi of Nigeria 

 

ROAD CYCLING

 

In the mixed 1-2 stone race David Stone of Great Britain got the gold medal Giorgio Farroni of Italy got the silver and David Vondracek

 

 

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY

 

In the first of today’s wheelchair rugby matches Great Britain beat Belgium by 54-49 but it did not go all their own way as in the first period Belgium led by 15-13 but after that Britain were stealing ball time at half time it was very close after time and by the end of the third period Britain were leading. Britain did get a few more steels to win and get a chance to be fifth.

 

Australia secured there place in the wheelchair rugby final by beating Japan in the semi final. Australia had control of this match winning every quarter but if you took each individual quarter you may see a lot closer match. In the first they won by 14 points to 11. In the second it was 15 to 12 the third was a lot bigger gap and where they spoiled any chance of a comeback by winning 15 -10. In the fourth Japan showed who they were by loosing 14-12 but even though the writing was on the wall the Japanese never gave up final score Australia 58 Japan 45 Australia will be playing for a gold medal while Japan will be playing for bronze  

 

The USA against Canada was a very close match but if you looked at the first quarter you would not believe me as it was all Canada leading 16-9 at quarter time. The USA did get back into the match before half time winning the second quarter 14-12. The USA got another quality quarter winning 14-11 to make the game a lot closer and when it came to the end you did not know who was going to win as the quarter was even at 11- 11 USA then the USA have a bad handling error to loose 50-49 and if you think about how the USA got back into the game from humiliation you would consider this unfair

 

WHEELCHAIR TENNIS

 

Ronald Vink from the Netherlands beat Malkel Scheffers by 2 sets to 1 after loosing the first 6-4 he came back to win a very tight set that could have went either way and it was one good point against serve that won it for Vink in the third it took one break of serve and Vink has his bronze medal

 

Noam Gershony of Israel beat David Wagner of the USA in straight sets. In the first set it took one break of serve to beat the American 6-3 but in the second he appeared to be unstoppable as he won 6-1 now he takes over from Great Britain Peter Norfock as quad singles gold medallist.

 

British pair Shuker and Whiley got the bronze medal in a 3 setter earlier today winning 7-6, 6-7, 3-6 over Khanthasit and Techamaneewat and there was only one major drop in serve. In the final 2 Dutch pairings went out on court and it was who beat. Buis and Vurgeer beet Griffioen and Van Koot 6-1 6-3

 

 

5 A SIDE FOOTBALL

 

After a even match between Spain and Argentina for the bronze medal the game went sown to penalties after a scoreless match Aninio scores Rodriguez misses for Argentina Marcello hits it completely off target for Spain Alvaro makes a good save for Spain Heira penalty misses by inches Alvaro saves and Spain have the bronze medal as they are the only team to score in the penalty shoot out

 

France were very unlucky today loosing to Brazil as the first penalty goal Brazil scored was a little bit unfair and the second good control to the wing good little cross but an unlucky touch by the French defender. That is not why they are unlucky why they are unlucky is the fact that they missed 3 penalties. One was taken indirectly but by this I thought that they thought the game was up. The game itself was very even with both teams having good chances but this is now Brazil's third blind football title in a row and are one of the great blind football teams.

 

Great Britain managed to finish in 7^th position after loosing to China and beating Turkey both results were 2-0 and after that Great Britain striker Dave Clarke decided to retire

 

 

BOTCHA

 

Great Britain David Smith picked up a silver medal but in the final he was outclassed as he lost 7-0  today also from Great Britain Steven Mc Guire finished fourth  as he lost to Dos Santo of Brazil and was disappointed by that result

 

SWIMMING

 

Britain’s Harriet Lee picked up a bronze medal today in the Woman’s 100 metre Backstroke SB9 behind Sophie Pascoe of New Zeeland and Khrystyna Yurchenko of Ukraine

 

Darragh Mc Donald was unlucky today as he finished fourth in the men’s freestyle S6.Chinas Qing Xu got a Paralympics record as he strolled to victory Sebastian Iwanow from Germany got second and Lorenzo Perez Escalona from Cuba finished in third

 

 

Ellie Symons was very unlucky not to get the gold as she lost out to a new world record now held by Victoria Arlen of the USA Tanja Groepper from Germany managed to get the bronze

 

My athlete of the day today is David Stone