MO

Nintendo got a bit of a look-in at the closing ceremony then.

Tokyo is gonna be fucking lit! Look at this shit from last night!

Omg the football anime the whole world except you goddamn honkies gew up watching was on that trailer. Olive et Tom in French.

Though it's all done and dusted, the boxing, without the headguards, was excellent. It even outshone the track and field events for me this time around.
 
But some of the judging was fucking atrocious.

Escape wrote:

Tokyo should be a lot better. London's opener was a piss dungeon of misplaced pride. The likes of The Spice Girls represent our worst; their parade underlined a commercial-warmonger's outlook on what constitutes Britain's cultural highs.

Shut your mouth hole, it was amaze

So the Paralympics are underway and it's great to see Team GB doing really well in the Velodrome and the swimming so far.

I'm enjoying the coverage, but Ch4 are doing things a bit differently this time. They opted to save money and not take Team Hi-Mo to this one, and their coverage is suffering for the lack of it. Me and the lads burst a gut for them at London 2012, so it's a bittersweet thing for us to be watching from home this time. Somehow I don't think they'll be winning the Bafta for their coverage on this occasion.

On the other hand... Lightening hasn't struck twice. As feared, London 2012 seems to have been a one off roaring success and isn't going to be repeated any time soon. I'm watching Day 1 of the athletics and the stadium in Rio has less than 5,000 people in it. Day 1 in London we had 80,000 people turn up, and our stadium was filled to capacity on every session for the duration of the games.

This must be heartbreaking for all the athletes. To have made such great strides with London 2012 only for it to all be forgotten by the time Rio 2016 rolls round. It's a fucking shame.
Has to be said that none of this will be helped by the Paras not even being shown on free to view telly in Brazil. If you want to see it out there, you need to have a cable subscription. Poor show that.

I won't lie, I'd like to have been there, but the way it's panning out there's a very big part of me that's glad I'm not. I left my heart in the east end of London back in 2012, and even if Rio had been a big success and Team GB go on to do really well, it's maybe a good thing to just draw a line under the whole thing. Like a never to be repeated holiday romance of sorts.

Anyhoo, watch some of it. It's inspirational stuff, and the athletes all deserve an audience. There's a great joy at the heart of Para Sport that's long been missing from their able-bodied big brother. 
When Olivia Breen runs in the T38 100m heats at the back of midnight tonight, I'll be cheering her on like a complete dafty.


maybe you should too

g.man

Heh, I did notice that. Though interestingly I watched swimming races yesterday where people with no legs were owning the fully limbed competitors. It's amazing stuff really.

London 2012


Rio 2016


Sad times. Good crowds at the swimming and velodrome events yesterday to be fair, but it's tragic seeing the athletics stadium virtually empty.

I think London enjoyed decent crowds because British athletes were expected to medal, it was in Europe, and the ticket prices for the Olympics were crazy.