Rio 2016 Paralympics Megathread

Mahony0509

Yes, the Olympics is over and that means only one thing, the Paralympics is around the corner! It gets underway in just two weeks, and RTE have released their promo.

A full list of athletes for Team Ireland can be found here.
Hopefully this will be a little bit more memorable than the Olympics, even with all the budget cuts.

murpho999

No disrespect to the athletes involved but I can't get excited by this event as we hear nothing about the athletes for 4 years.

maudgonner

murpho999 wrote: »

No disrespect to the athletes involved but I can't get excited by this event as we hear nothing about the athletes for 4 years.

Same is true for most of the Olympians too.

How many people outside of rowing circles knew who the O'Donovans were three weeks ago?

murpho999

maudgonner wrote: »

Same is true for most of the Olympians too.

How many people outside of rowing circles knew who the O'Donovans were three weeks ago?

Athletics has other events that receive a lot of coverage.

Tennis players are well known as are the footballers, basketballers, cyclists, swimmers.

I couldn't name one athlete who won a medal at the last paralympics.

Mahony0509

murpho999 wrote: »

Athletics has other events that receive a lot of coverage.

Tennis players are well known as are the footballers, basketballers, cyclists, swimmers.

I couldn't name one athlete who won a medal at the last paralympics.

Jason Smyth is probably the most well known, he is a runner and one of the best in the world. He won gold last time.

failinis

murpho999 wrote: »

No disrespect to the athletes involved but I can't get excited by this event as we hear nothing about the athletes for 4 years.

I think it is more of a case that if you find certain sports interesting that you will follow them, some fully abled and some not, in that area.
Therefore having knowledge of the athletes.

Its not like you should expect weekly shows updating you.

biko

Ireland have been consistently good at the Paralympics and this year should bring more medals.

HigginsJ

Isn't there going to be no fans and a skeleton support staff as they have not been able to get the money in for this. I feel for the guys going, could end up being a horrible experience.

maudgonner

murpho999 wrote: »

Athletics has other events that receive a lot of coverage.

Tennis players are well known as are the footballers, basketballers, cyclists, swimmers.

I couldn't name one athlete who won a medal at the last paralympics.

Yes, but the point is that once the Olympics come around you get to know the more obscure competitors, who you would probably never otherwise hear of. And get wrapped up in their stories and wind up shouting for them.

The beauty of the Olympics is becoming absolutely engrossed in sports that you don't normally follow. The Paralympics is like that, but moreso.

Not knowing much about the sports/competitors beforehand never stops me from enjoying the events.

maudgonner

Mahony0509 wrote: »

Jason Smyth is probably the most well known, he is a runner and one of the best in the world. He won gold last time.

He was/is the fastest Paralympian in the world.

maudgonner

Just to whet the appetite even more, here is the Channel 4 promo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IocLkk3aYlk

And here is their legendary one from 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vavJK1McHUo

Mahony0509

Is this the first ever Paralympics that we have a football team? I can't remember having one in the recent Paralympics..

SEPT 23 1989

your country is proud of you

enjoy every minute of it

smash

maudgonner wrote: »

Just to whet the appetite even more, here is the Channel 4 promo:

Is drifting an Olympic sport now?

longshanks

The Russian Paralympic team won't be allowed compete due to the state sponsored drug programme. They lost their appeal. This makes even more of a mockery of the Olympics, Russia, the whole thing really.

PowerToWait

Mahony0509 wrote: »

Jason Smyth is probably the most well known, he is a runner and one of the best in the world. He won gold last time.

Smyth is good. I'd say Athlone's Mark Rohan was the real story from London with 2 golds out of 2 events in Handcycling.

fryup

i hope its well attended but reports back from Brazil suggest very few tickets were sold...

could be very disheartening for the participants

maudgonner

The Last Leg is starting on Channel 4 in a few minutes, kicking things off (no pun intended ).

Pherekydes

Interesting and disappointing that the President of the IOC is not attending the opening ceremony.

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

he's wanted by brazilian police

mansize

Still waiting for Team Ireland!!!

maudgonner

Having the team names in Portugese seems to have meant loads of Es.

We're onto the Fs now!

mansize

Irlanda is what I'm waiting for 99th in Olympics- don't know what number in Paralympics

mansize

Remember when Ireland came out and they kept showing Pat Hickey...

maudgonner

mansize wrote: »

Remember when Ireland came out and they kept showing Pat Hickey...

I don't think he had any luck getting tickets for the Opening Ceremony this time, unfortunately. :pac:

maudgonner

Come on Team Ireland!

Larbre34

The team looked great, nice stylish garb, so much better than the Penneys raid the Olympic team had to wear for their ceremony.

mansize

Yeah Under Armour not New Balance!!!

timthumbni

Watching news night (I think) a few nights ago and the father of one of the UK girls was saying that the categorisation process was being abused all the time and was unfair.

He said that if someone was ridiculously far ahead ahead of the rest in a short event there was something wrong.

I remember in London thinking the same sometimes.

kneemos

The commentator on Channel4 started telling us how this made him cry and that made him cry.

I switched off.

ScrubsfanChris

Watching the count down numbers failing to unravel, flashbacks of Sochii :P

maudgonner

Jason Smyth safely through. Won his heat and topped the timesheet.

Good stuff!

Tin Foil Hat

maudgonner wrote: »

Jason Smyth safely through. Won his heat and topped the timesheet.

Good stuff!

He feckin' jogged it, the fecker. A very impressive young man.

jimmy blevins

Anti-fascist paramilitary jailed for 84 years for bomb attack, loses use of legs after going on hunger and now multiple Paralympian swimmer.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastián_Rodríguez_Veloso

Gizmo55

Really wish RTE were showing more. Rob Walker on CH4 does my head in.

timthumbni

Bethany Firth from Northern Ireland won gold and broke the world record last night for team GB. Great effort.

I think she previously swam for Ireland.

It's interesting how little traffic this thread gets in comparison to the standard Olympics.

maudgonner

Smyth's race coming up soon.

Brian017

14 year old Nicole Turner finishes 2nd in her heat and qualifies as 4th fastest for the S6 50m Butterfly final at 10:18pm tonight

timthumbni

maudgonner wrote: »

Smyth's race coming up soon.

I don't think anyone will get near him and I expect he will walk it. Not literally.

ahlookit

timthumbni wrote: »

I don't think anyone will get near him and I expect he will walk it. Not literally.

I hope you're right. We'll find out in a few seconds!

maudgonner

YES!

ahlookit

Gold. Always in control. Superb achievement.

PTH2009

congrats

could he represent us in the main olympics or would his sight problems cause him too much problems ???

dublinman1990

I just watched the race on RTE. Fantastic stuff.

He deserves the Gold for Ireland with that effort alone. Well done Jason Smyth.

maudgonner

PTH2009 wrote: »

congrats

could he represent us in the main olympics or would his sight problems cause him too much problems ???

He tried to qualify for 2012 but just missed out on the time.

I think he may have competed in Commonwealth Games though?

Brian017

He's amazing. It's a pity the T13 200m has been cut

ahlookit

maudgonner wrote: »

He tried to qualify for 2012 but just missed out on the time.

I think he may have competed in Commonwealth Games though?

Yeah, he just missed out on the Olympics in London by 4 hundredths of a second.
He did compete in a European Games, think he was selected for NI for commonwealth games but missed out due to injury

Just caught the end of his interview on C4, he was talking about going to Tokyo in 4 years!

Brian017

Anyone know when the medal ceremony is?

the groutch

maudgonner wrote: »

He tried to qualify for 2012 but just missed out on the time.

I had always wondered about that.
The olympic qualifying time was supposedly 10.22, but then you see guys in the heats who can't even break 10.5
Find it hard to believe that everyone there had run a 10.22 to qualify

MrKingsley

No they said it would be live on the RTE website.

Does anyone know the name of the female analyst on the couch this afternoon? She was so well spoken and clearly knew her stuff yet ive never seen her on RTE before

Brian017

MrKingsley wrote: »

No they said it would be live on the RTE website.

Does anyone know the name of the female analyst on the couch this afternoon? She was so well spoken and clearly knew her stuff yet ive never seen her on RTE before

Jessie Barr. Tommy's sister, she was also on RTE for his final in the Olympics. She qualified for London as well