Just watched the opening ceremony of the winter paralympics, a very good show but still left me disappointed. The athletes are all amazing and would all have an incredibly tough story that brought them to the games but they keep going and made it. I am disappointed that the athletes don't get the support and more importantly the funding that they deserve. Many of them have to pay their way to the games along with training. This is a poor reflection on Sporting ministers around the world. I can absolutely understand that able-bodied athletes are much larger in numbers and therefore funds and equipment should be sent their way. However as the Paralympic body is smaller shouldn't sporting bodies be able to fund at least their plane tickets over. Also disappointing was that seperate channels host the Olympics and the Paralympics. Channel Nine did a very good coverage of the Olypmic Games but left it to the government funded agency to somewhat get "the scraps". Channel Nine's action on this suggests that they think that the crap they have on late and early morning TV will acquire higher ratings then watching the mentally toughest athletes compete at their pinnicale. And sadly that is probaly the case. In all the news tonight not one has mentioned anything about the Paralympics starting. There is obvious reasoning behind the lack of support for the athletes but it is certainly an area in World sport that should be improved.
On a lighter note, today was a fairly quiet day today. Went for a two hour run/walk up Mt Cootha which has left me very sore. Need to stretch and ice more if I am to continue my hours of exercise. Going to do my ab and pushup exercises later tonight. Best of luck Paralympians, you are the toughest athletes whether you are recognised or not. Alpha and Out!
(Picture from zimbio.com)
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