Aggregated News
I was in London last week, and the Brits were mad for the Paralympics. Virtually every event was sold out. More than 11 million people watched the opening ceremonies on television, which were followed by 150 hours of live coverage over 12 days. Newspapers ran special daily sections. Crowds gathered around screens in pubs and markets.
A corps of disabled sports reporters kept the commentary straightforward and well informed. One discussion considered whether double-leg amputees have better balance than — and therefore an advantage over — runners with one leg. Another reviewed the finer points of wheelchair basketball fouling. An after-games comedy show even ran an ongoing Twitter feed, #isitokay, in which the commentators fielded such potentially incorrect questions as whether it’s OK to ask how an armless swimmer climbs out of the pool, or wipes his arse. The host, Adam Hills, a sexy Australian comedian born with one foot, loosened things up from the start by telling the press he prefers the term “mutant” to “disabled.” “It sounds so much cooler,” he said.
Oscar Pistorius, South Africa’s “Blade Runner”...
A corps of disabled sports reporters kept the commentary straightforward and well informed. One discussion considered whether double-leg amputees have better balance than — and therefore an advantage over — runners with one leg. Another reviewed the finer points of wheelchair basketball fouling. An after-games comedy show even ran an ongoing Twitter feed, #isitokay, in which the commentators fielded such potentially incorrect questions as whether it’s OK to ask how an armless swimmer climbs out of the pool, or wipes his arse. The host, Adam Hills, a sexy Australian comedian born with one foot, loosened things up from the start by telling the press he prefers the term “mutant” to “disabled.” “It sounds so much cooler,” he said.
Oscar Pistorius, South Africa’s “Blade Runner”...