The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is relishing the prospect of having the Paralympics in London, with this year’s edition promising to be the biggest and most high-profile yet. Some 4,200 athletes are scheduled to take part in the competition, which begins in the British capital on August 29 and runs until September 9, rounding off a summer of sport.
IPC president Philip Craven, though, said there was not just a desire among the public to prolong the Olympics after a successful Games, particularly for the home nation, but also to see more top-class sport. “This will be my sixth Paralympics as president. It’s not just because I’m back in my own country but everyone is so excited,” said the 62-year-old Briton, a five-time Paralympian in wheelchair basketball and swimming. “There’s a fantastic buzz in the air, waiting for it to kick off and people talking about it,” he told AFP in a phone interview from London.
Part of that buzz comes from the previous Games in Beijing four years ago, where China set an impressive standard to follow, he added.
“I think when (Chinese President) Hu Jintao in early 2006 declared that the Paralympics were equal to the Olympics they really were,” Craven said.
“We were very pleased with the way the Chinese took to Paralympic sport. They had programmes explaining the different sports and we had great coverage there.
“But what (British host broadcaster) Channel 4 have done, they have taken a very fresh look at it, which has been exciting and ground-breaking, pushing those boundaries. Because it’s brand new, even we at times have had to catch up.”
Channel 4, whose powerful Paralympics trailer “Meet the Superhumans” has won widespread praise, are planning what they say are an “unprecedented” 150 hours of rolling coverage on multiple platforms over the 12 days of competition.
After the Olympics ended on August 12, the broadcaster even ran adverts cheekily saying: “Thanks for the warm-up.”