The Paralympics 2016

[pomp 'n circumstance]

I was lucky enough to be been one of the contractors who worked on the London 2012 Olympics in London and I still count it as one of the great experiences of my lifetime - 6 months of working with the most creative people and bringing together an event in which we took great pride and that included the Paralympic event which was very humbling and who are an incredible band of athletes and Team GB also did us proud!

I got to thinking about the Paralympics in Rio which somehow is turning out to be better, despite the budget restrictions, than we thought it would be - incredible haul of medals from Team GB and second only to China in the medal table. And then I looked at the team in third place who happen to be Ukraine....and then I had a negative thought that somehow devalued our medal haul. We all know that the Russian team were kicked out of the Paralympics and their team were banned from Rio due to drug abuse. The Russians did rather well in the Paralympics of 2012. So I got to thinking that many of the medals that became part of the medal haul of Team GB in Rio might well have been won by Russia if they had not been excluded. So the stigma that athletes bring to the Games, either through State involvement or through their trainers affects indirectly the athletes who perform 'clean'......either able bodied or Paralympian and that's tragic because they deserve better than that! I hope that Rio will have enriched their lives and they back to the UK memories that will stay with them and they will always remember!

[The Cincinnati Kid]

Don't see it as an issue really Pomp....there's often been someone that hasn't showed up to an Olympic games. Boycotts in Moscow and the US etc. Besides, the cheating Russkis may have stolen some of their share of medals in London. You can only beat whats put in front of you as someone more famous than me once said.

[Weybridge]

I notice that GB picked up a couple of extra Bronze medals this week from Bejing in 2008 after Russians were disqualified.

A javelin bronze, and the 4x400 relay.

[Earl Grey]

Although I'm sure other countries are puzzling over why GB & NI have been so successful in both bog-standard and para Olympics (2nd place in both currently) it surely is rather more intriguing how Ukraine is such a big hitter in the Paralympics while being completely anonymous in the plain vanilla variety having been placed 31st in that table as compared to 3rd in the Paralympics.

Have they taken all their able bodied athletes and been lopping off an arm here and a leg there to at least impress in one form of the Olympics?