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I will just cut n paste my thoughts from the Olympics thread.
I think it was amazing the way the British public supported the paralympics, unfortunately I think that well could be the outlier, I don't see many if any other countries doing the same, including the US and rest of Europe.
It should perhaps be that the IOC/host country have to underwrite the event in future, and that sponsors of the Olympics include the paralympics as part of the package.
I don't see that happening though and just think that future paralympics games will be seriously scaled back from the offset, London will have been the peak.
Yes I posted this in the main thread 🙁
Just read shocking news about the dreadful state of finances for the Paralympics. They will go ahead but with significantly reduced budgets for venues, transport etc. Travel assistance payments are only just being released and some 10 countries are at risk of being unable to attend. Ticket sales have been dire, just 12% The Brazilians have got some extra mkney together after a change in the law allowing state aid but its a terrible state of affairsBBC
MSP replied (I agree totally)
I think it was amazing the way the British public supported the paralympics, unfortunately I think that well could be the outlier, I don't see many if any other countries doing the same, including the US and rest of Europe.It should perhaps be that the IOC/host country have to underwrite the event in future, and that sponsors of the Olympics include the paralympics as part of the package.
I don't see that happening though and just think that future paralympics games will be seriously scaled back from the offset, London will have been the peak.
MSP cut and past fury !
It really is an utterly ridiculous situation.
I much prefer the paralympics to the traditional version, too.
Shocking and ridiculous!
Certainly is. How have they let it get in such a state. The IPC and IOC should have seen this coming years ago.
I also think that when everyone is home and they don't feel the need to keep the Brazilians happy, there will be a lot more stories of bad management and general shonkiness of the whole Olympics.
The whole Paralympic movement is basically a Brirish invention via the use of sport to rehabilitate service men and women after WW2
London was outstanding and a true celebration
I think Brazil shows there is a good reason to add the Paralympics back into the main event so it can't be treated as second best ever again
I think Brazil shows there is a good reason to add the Paralympics back into the main event so it can't be treated as second best ever again
Thought they were always separate? Commonwealth Games at Glasgow had both simultaneously, which i seem to recall was a first.
Had two great days at the London Paralympics, it was amazing. I think some of that was initially part of the hangover from the successful Olympics and then it generated a momentum of its own that was a joy to be part of.
I fear that expectations were raised to a level that Brazil could never match.
Sadly, I'm not sure how sustainable the current Olympic/Paralympics model is for anything other than "rich" nations to host them.
It should perhaps be that the IOC/host country have to underwrite the event in future, and that sponsors of the Olympics include the paralympics as part of the package.
I'll be honest, I'm surprised that isn't already the case.
I think Brazil shows there is a good reason to add the Paralympics back into the main event so it can't be treated as second best ever again
Would be difficult to manage, but it would mean the hosts couldn't conveniently forget or treat the Paralympians as second best I suppose.
I also think that when everyone is home and they don't feel the need to keep the Brazilians happy, there will be a lot more stories of bad management and general shonkiness of the whole Olympics.
GB medal haul aside, there's very little positive to report from the Rio Olympics. Brazil has demonstrated to the rest of the world how little they care about anything except football, stands are half empty, many Brazilians didn't even have a clue who their own gold medal winning High Jumper was and those that did were busy booing the Frenchman that came 2nd whilst he was competing (not since Jesse Owens competing in Nazi Berlin in 1936 has this happened!).
It's a real shame, the Sydney Olympics were incredible, Athens in 2004 was looking like it could be a disaster but the Greeks pulled it off brilliantly somehow, Beijing was fantastic, London... Awesome! Rio? Seems like it will be remembered as the Games that shouldn't have been allowed to happen, much like the 2010 World Cup has had no legacy for South Africa (other than some huge stadiums that no longer get used for anything), it seems like Brazil cares little for the rest of the world and has little or no interest in the Games it was asked to host and there will be little or no legacy going forward!
how on earth did brazil convince the world they had the fifth biggest economy? how can they sustain the claim that 84% of tickets have been sold.. most venues even for finals have been little more than half full at best, the sttendances for the athletics have been shocking even with bolt in the final the top tier of three has been sparsely populated.. for them to say they have sold 12% of paraolympics must be a code for whom ever buys the next ticket buys the first ticket.. poor beyond belief.. never mind the shoddy cheapskate stadia and pools with green water.. brazil have badly let themselves down
It's controversial and unlikely but Id love to see a permanent Olympic venue, say in Greece, perhaps with Olympic and Paralympic alternating every two years. With a permanent site there would be far greater economic activity around training and holiday facilities using the site outside of games events, Greater nvestment in the longer term, less corruption, and potentially a new European or global sporting excellence centre. The same could be done for the winter events.
I have said in the past that they should always be held in Greece
I have said in the past that they should always be held in Greece
It would be more convenient if it was in Chipping Camden or Much Wenlock
I'm naive,but surely the IOC have a responsibility to pay for it.
Bastids.
IMO this is another FIFA style disgrace.
Depressing.
[quote=Stoner ]It's controversial and unlikely but Id love to see a permanent Olympic venue, say in Greece, perhaps with Olympic and Paralympic alternating every two years.
You seem to have failed to grasp the point of the Olympics.
It's one of the strengths of the ipc that it's not the ioc and their corrupt cabal of envelope baggers. It means they can take the right stance on Russia that the ioc fudged.
Aracer : quite possibly I have, but for those at the back that missed it could you please tell the class what I got wrong...
Well let's just say that it's not for the athletes - or at least they don't appear to be a particularly high priority as part of the bidding process and staging.
Damn. And I thought I was cynical
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I'd imagine that apathy is multiplied tenfold in a poor country like Brazil.
I'm still fuming over them getting rid of sailing!
If ever there was a sport for the paralympics, it's sailing, the boats are adapted for anything from blindness to quadriplegics!
So what of a boat costs money, it's probably comparable to Pistorius' collection of legs.
I'm someone who has no interest in the paralympics. Simple reason is that it's far, FAR less competitive than main sports (how many T11 category people in the world train for the 400m vs able bodied people?). Sometimes it comes across as 'you get a medal for turning up', which i can never find myself drawn to.
The figures suggest a lot of people feel the same way.
I'd say the competition is pretty good. Maybe I am missing some of the events you have wat watched.
I'd like to take more interest in the Paralympics, but I always feel "sported out" by the end of the Olympics.
Maybe it should be held before as a curtain raiser? Would also give the host city a test of its venues & procedures.