Paralympics 2012 Daily Diary

calex71

Wow his face on the final straight , calm as you like, not a hint of tiring.

Absolutely brilliant to see the gold total increase for ireland, the commentary on channel 4 was very favourable for him "this guy breaks world records for fun"

KevIRL

Dan man wrote: »

Medal watch....

IRELAND 4 GOLD 0 SILVER 0 BRONZE 4 TOTAL

And up to 9th in the medal table

Truman Burbank

calex71 wrote: »

Wow his face on the final straight , calm as you like, not a hint of tiring.

Absolutely brilliant to see the gold total increase for ireland, the commentary on channel 4 was very favourable for him "this guy breaks world records for fun"

May have commented before on how how hugely supportive The British are of The Irish (IMO). They really are. Claire Balding is a legend. Don't dare disagree!

calex71

Truman Burbank wrote: »

May have commented before on how how hugely supportive The British are of The Irish (IMO). They really are. Claire Balding is a legend. Don't dare disagree!

Totally agree, the BBC guys where the same for the boxers when I watched the fights on there a few weeks back.

Truman Burbank

calex71 wrote: »

Totally agree, the BBC guys where the same for the boxers when I watched the fights on there a few weeks back.

Was at Katie's final, right after Nicola Adams' gold. We cheered for them, they cheered for us. We stood for them, they stood for us.

The_Kew_Tour

One of the greatest days in Irish Sport without a doubt.

And fair play to the British who have roared for the Irish throughout both games.

The_Kew_Tour

Any Gold or medal prospects tomorrow?

Im getting greedy;)

Dan man

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Any Gold or medal prospects tomorrow?

Im getting greedy;)

Most definitely...we have a current World Champion in action tomorrow....Catherine Walsh in the Track Cycling Women's B 3km Individual Pursuit...I'll have a look through the timetable for others now....

The_Kew_Tour

Dan man wrote: »

Most definitely...we have a current World Champion in action tomorrow....Catherine Walsh in the Track Cycling Women's B 3km Individual Pursuit...I'll have a look through the timetable for others now....

great...doing great job as always in this thread Dan.

Dan man

Bethany Firth is in with an outside chance of adding another medal to her gold from yesterday in the Women's S14 200m Freestyle.
Not sure about any medals but Colin Lynch, Enda Smyth and Cathal Miller should do well in the Track Cycling Men's C1-5 Team Sprint.

Beasty

Dan man wrote: »

Colin Lynch, Enda Smyth and Cathal Miller should do well in the Track Cycling Men's C1-5 Team Sprint.

Don't expect too much of the guys tomorrow. They are definitely outsiders in this event, being the first off (and therefore lowest ranked) of the teams competing

The sprint events tend to be much more difficult than the pursuit (endurance) events for the Irish. This is a very technical event requiring extensive practice and specialist sprinters - some of the other teams will have full time cyclists who access to the best equipment and indoor velodromes. The Irish tend to have to make do with a few overseas training camps to prepare.

Dan man

Beasty wrote: »

Don't expect too much of the guys tomorrow. They are definitely outsiders in this event, being the first off (and therefore lowest ranked) of the teams competing

The sprint events tend to be much more difficult than the pursuit (endurance) events for the Irish. This is a very technical event requiring extensive practice and specialist sprinters - some of the other teams will have full time cyclists who access to the best equipment and indoor velodromes. The Irish tend to have to make do with a few overseas training camps to prepare.

Yes, I'm not expecting a medal really but thought they deserve a mention.... just goes to show how good our Paracycling team are when top finishes are expected rather than being wishful thinking.
I think Catherine and Fran are going to get into the medals tomorrow...current World Champions if I'm not mistaken. Katie George Dunlevy and Sandra Fitzgerald also go in the penultimate heat so they should go well too. Best of luck to them all.

Maryanne40

OMG, I go out for a few hours and I come back and we have another gold! Fabulous, fabulous day....take a bow Michael Mc Killop. Oscar Pistorious majestic too!!! Wonderful viewing.

ROCKMAN

Last night I was trying to explain to my six year old(who's learning to swim at the moment) how the swimmers could swim without legs ,when she asks for about the 3rd time BUT HOW???

When my 9 year old came to the rescue with

" Because their SUPERHUMAN " !!!!!



sums it up really..............

Silvio.Dante

ROCKMAN wrote: »

Last night I was trying to explain to my six year old(who's learning to swim at the moment) how the swimmers could swim without legs ,when she asks for about the 3rd time BUT HOW???

When my 9 year old came to the rescue with

" Because their SUPERHUMAN " !!!!!



sums it up really..............

Brilliant...:)

Truman Burbank

Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan into the 3k pursuit final today - another medal. Tubridy will need extra seats!

Maryanne40

DEFINITELY another medal is it? Where are you watching that?

KevIRL

Maryanne40 wrote: »

DEFINITELY another medal is it? Where are you watching that?

Into the final and up against Australia so guarenteed a silver medal, the Australian though was 5 secs better in qualifying so Catherine up against it

KevIRL

Did Bethany Firth swim this morning in the S14 200m free? Cant see her listed in the results

The_Kew_Tour

You know things are going really well when Silver(most likely) seems disappointing.:D

Does anyone know time of final?

KevIRL

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

You know things are going really well when Silver(most likely) seems disappointing.:D

Does anyone know time of final?

About 14:50 or therebouts, tune in from 14:45 to be sure.

Dan man

KevIRL wrote: »

Did Bethany Firth swim this morning in the S14 200m free? Cant see her listed in the results

She must have pulled out of the event. Maybe she hasn't recovered sufficiently since her stunning gold medal swim on Friday night.

Truman Burbank

That was a WR time of 3.31.53 from Philipa Gray of NZL to beat Catherine Walsh's 3.36.45 in their heat. Does anyone have a PB for Catherine please? Can't locate. A mention too for Katie George Dunleavy (with pilot Sandra Fitzgerald) in 5th after the heats. Well done to them.

Dan man

Truman Burbank wrote: »

That was a WR time of 3.31.53 from Philipa Gray of Australia to beat Catherine Walsh's 3.36.45 in their heat. Does anyone have a PB for Catherine please? Can't locate. A mention too for Katie George Dunleavy (with pilot Sandra Fitzgerald) in 5th after the heats. Well done to them.

3:37.392mins I think was her best before today. Best this year anyway.

endswell

Dan man wrote: »

She must have pulled out of the event. Maybe she hasn't recovered sufficiently since her stunning gold medal swim on Friday night.

prob with arm i think, mentioned on setanta after darraghs win yesterday

F.R.

New National Record for the Men's Sprint Team.
Congratulations to Cathal Miller, Colin Lynch and Enda Smyth

Dan man

F.R. wrote: »

New National Record for the Men's Sprint Team.
Congratulations to Cathal Miller, Colin Lynch and Enda Smyth

Great ride by the guys.... they placed 8th overall.

KevIRL

Dan man wrote: »

Great ride by the guys...think they placed 8th overall.

Better again Dan, finished in 7th place. Super performance by them and as this was the first time the event has taken place at the Paralympics they held the Paralympic record for about 10 mins as well:D

Dan man

KevIRL wrote: »

Better again Dan, finished in 7th place. Super performance by them and as this was the first time the event has taken place at the Paralympics they held the Paralympic record for about 10 mins as well:D

Please tell me the Chinese team weren't disqualified!!?

Dan man

KevIRL wrote: »

Better again Dan, finished in 7th place. Super performance by them and as this was the first time the event has taken place at the Paralympics they held the Paralympic record for about 10 mins as well:D

Are you sure about the 7th place? Official site shows no DQs so still in 8th place. I'm looking forward to that gold medal race off between China and Britain so I would have been really annoyed if the Chinese had been DQd.

KevIRL

Dan man wrote: »

Are you sure about the 7th place? Official site shows no DQs so still in 8th place. I'm looking forward to that gold medal race off between China and Britain so I would have been really annoyed if the Chinese had been DQd.

The graphic on Setanta had Ireland as 7th. And that was without China getting DQ'ed

Dan man

KevIRL wrote: »

The graphic on Setanta had Ireland as 7th. And that was without China getting DQ'ed

Yes I was watching on Setanta and they were saying worse case scenario for Ireland was 7th, but I think they were mistaken. Great result anyway by the lads....looking forward to Colin Lynch go for the medals in the road TT event during the week.
Still got Mark Rohan to come also in the handcycling so should be plenty of excitement ahead for us on the cycling front.

Dan man

Catherine Walsh....SILVER MEDAL!!!

Dan man

Medal watch....

IRELAND 4 GOLD 1 SILVER 0 BRONZE 5 TOTAL

Truman Burbank

Dan man wrote: »

3:37.392mins I think was her best before today. Best this year anyway.

Yes, brilliant! And in 3.36.36 was it??

EDIT 3.36.45. FAB!

Skid

Great to see the Paralympics going so well. Huge crowds and some brilliant performances by Irish Athletes. Hopefully the great achievements so far will inspire our remaining Competitors in the coming days.

The_Kew_Tour

Another fine achievement and another great cycle in the final.

Cant ask for more.

Dan man

HELEN KEARNEY.....SILVER MEDAL!!

Helen rode brilliantly in equestrian (Grade Ia) Championship Final posting a gret score of 76.700% for the silver medal!! Our 6th medal!!

Dan man

Medal watch....

IRELAND 4 GOLD 2 SILVER 0 BRONZE 6 TOTAL

The_Kew_Tour

Dan man wrote: »

HELEN KEARNEY.....SILVER MEDAL!!

Helen rode brilliantly in equestrian (Grade Ia) Championship Final!! Our 6th medal!!

Excellent!!! Well done to her.

Just pity I missed it.

Dan man

TEAM IRELAND DRESSAGE.....BRONZE MEDAL!!

This is amazing, a medal of every colour now...the medals just keep coming for Ireland's Paralympians!!

Dan man

Medal watch....

IRELAND 4 GOLD 2 SILVER 1 BRONZE 7 TOTAL

The_Kew_Tour

3 medals today is great.

Dont think we expected that.

More to come too.

Dan man

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

3 medals today is great.

Dont think we expected that.

More to come too.

Yep, we're still only halfway to what I think our medal haul will finish on....this is amazing!! Another few golds in the team yet at least with a bit of luck!!

Maryanne40

Hugely proud of the paralympic team....congrats to the cyclists today and now the equestrian folk too. I'm an amputee since I was a teenager....really wish all these opportunities existed back in the 80's. Gave up sport completely and sorry now....but it's great to see attitudes changing and times moving on.

Dan man

Maryanne40 wrote: »

Hugely proud of the paralympic team....congrats to the cyclists today and now the equestrian folk too. I'm an amputee since I was a teenager....really wish all these opportunities existed back in the 80's. Gave up sport completely and sorry now....but it's great to see attitudes changing and times moving on.

This is such a proud moment not only for Irish sport but for Ireland....it is amazing to see how those super athletes are representing us with distinction on the world stage and even better to see that their performances are bringing so much joy to much of the nation.
As ever, there is much much more still to do but let's revel in the super achievements of the team for now.
The Paralympic team deserve everything good coming to them down the line....and hopefully there's plenty of rewards coming! We're onto something very good here....it needs to continue in the future.

The_Kew_Tour

I remember watching Ennis, Farah and the long jumper for Britain(name escapes me as type) and thinking to myself. Wow what a night to be British, Jesus what I would give to have night like that for us.

Never though only few weeks later it would happen like last night.

Maryanne40

I had that exact same feeling too and almost wished I was British that night!! Looking at the wheechair basketball now (I did play that for a couple of years but not till I was already too old) and it is a fantastic game...one that is almost better to look at than the able bodied version.

The_Kew_Tour

RTE 1 coverage for Irish highlights on now. Just talking about last night at moment.

KevIRL

Those equestrian medals have caught me by surprise, an unexpected bonus! Well done all concerned.