Paralympics 2012 Daily Diary

Dan man

Now that the Paralympic Opening Ceremony has taken place and the action is set to begin, I think it's about time that we had a thread to discuss the day-to-day action.
Similarly to the posts during the Olympics, I will be posting a daily timetable for those of you interested in following the progress of the Irish athletes in action.
Best of luck to the Irish team....they're going to do the country really proud and bring home a haul of medals, plenty of which will surely be gold.

KevIRL

Great opening ceremony tonight. Won't get to follow these as closely as the olympics unfortunately as work has gotten a bit mental, but still hope to get to watch a decent bit of action

Dan man

Here is the provisional Day 1 timetable for Irish Paralympians:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056741001

Medal Watch..... Track cycling tandem pairing of Damien Shaw and James Brown have an excellent chance of bagging Ireland's first medal of these Paralympics when they go in the men's 4km Individual Pursuit tomorrow (Damien Shaw is James Brown's sighted pilot for the event).
The pairing claimed a silver medal at this year's World Championships so they are looking for another podium finish in London.


Damien Shaw (front) and James Brown:



James (far left) and Damien collecting their World silver medals:



Enda Smyth in the men's Track Cycling C1-2-3 1km Time Trial is another class competitor, consistently finishing in the top 8 in this event but a recent injury setback has hampered his preparations. Nevertheless, keep an eye out for him as he could do very well.

The_Kew_Tour

Wish the team all the best.

Silvio.Dante

Thank you Dan and all the very best to the team...:)

Truman Burbank

KevIRL wrote: »

Great opening ceremony tonight. Won't get to follow these as closely as the olympics unfortunately as work has gotten a bit mental, but still hope to get to watch a decent bit of action

I'm out of hibernation and back on The Boards Wagon . +1 on the ceremony Kev. Was in London for the last 4 days of the previous action, and with no fancy phone got all the results, and how they happened, here on arrival home. Was worth the wait! Thanks for the profiles and Irish-In-Action Dan. All the best to the team.

Mental Mickey

Dan man wrote: »

Now that the Paralympic Opening Ceremony has taken place and the action is set to begin, I think it's about time that we had a thread to discuss the day-to-day action.
Similarly to the posts during the Olympics, I will be posting a daily timetable for those of you interested in following the progress of the Irish athletes in action.
Best of luck to the Irish team....they're going to do the country really proud and bring home a haul of medals, plenty of which will surely be gold.

Fair play. Saw most of the ceremony last night. Watched the rest of it this morning. My main gripe is: why isn't the Irish girl on Channel 4 fronting an IRISH programme on RTE?

They should be ashamed of themselves for not showing it on national tv.

Skid

Mental Mickey wrote: »

Fair play. Saw most of the ceremony last night. Watched the rest of it this morning. My main gripe is: why isn't the Irish girl on Channel 4 fronting an IRISH programme on RTE?

They should be ashamed of themselves for not showing it on national tv.

RTE don't have the rights (except for some highlights)

Irish Coverage is on Setanta (Free to Air, not scrambled)

Dan man

Great news already from the Paralympics....Damien Shaw and James Brown are through to the bronze medal match in the Men's MB 4km Individual Pursuit.
Their medal race is at 16:57....best of luck to them.

The_Kew_Tour

Dan man wrote: »

Great news already from the Paralympics....Damien Shaw and James Brown are through to the bronze medal match in the Men's MB 4km Individual Pursuit.
Their medal race is at 16:57....best of luck to them.

great stuff!

Mental Mickey

Skid wrote: »

RTE don't have the rights (except for some highlights)

Irish Coverage is on Setanta (Free to Air, not scrambled)

Repeat Teilifis Eireann are a joke imo.

Silvio.Dante

Dan man wrote: »

Great news already from the Paralympics....Damien Shaw and James Brown are through to the bronze medal match in the Men's MB 4km Individual Pursuit.
Their medal race is at 16:57....best of luck to them.

Anyone watching this..?

KevIRL

Silvio.Dante wrote: »

Anyone watching this..?

Beaten by Spain by 2 secs

KevIRL

Ellen Keane in final now on C4

KevIRL

KevIRL wrote: »

Ellen Keane in final now on C4

7th place. Well done to her

Dan man

KevIRL wrote: »

7th place. Well done to her

I think her main event is the 100m breaststroke so great performance there from Ellen.

Kerrydude1981

Cracking game of Wheelchair Basketball on between GB and Germany,gone to extra time

Silvio.Dante

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Cracking game of Wheelchair Basketball on between GB and Germany,gone to extra time

Fantastic entertainment isn't it?

The crowd are brill also...:)

Kerrydude1981

Silvio.Dante wrote: »

Fantastic entertainment isn't it?

The crowd are brill also...:)

Ya great entertainment,tough sport as well,going to keep an eye on this competition

Dan man

Here is the schedule for Irish athletes in action on Day 2 of the Paralympics.... http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80530319#post80530319

Medal Watch...... Colin Lynch goes in the men's track cycling C2 3km Pursuit tomorrow, entering the event as the current World Champion. Fingers crossed he can put Ireland on the medal table tomorrow. Bethany Firth also goes into the women's S14 100m Backstroke with the second fastest entry time of all competitors in the event. A medal is a strong possibility for Bethany, best of luck to her.


Colin Lynch (centre) with gold medal and rainbow jersey:

Silvio.Dante

Good luck to Colin and everyone else competing today...

Kerrydude1981

Colin is flying it so far,finished 4th,going for bronze later on,he gave it his all,fair play to him

KevIRL

Some amazing pics from the paralympics

Kerrydude1981

Come on Colin!!!

Ah f*ck just pipped on the line

The_Kew_Tour

ahhhh another 4th god dam it.

great achievement though just worst place to be at that moment.

locum-motion

Jaysus, fair play to that spanish fella.
Just imagine, you're recovering from some horrible accident in which you lost a leg and an arm. You say to yourself "I'm not gonna lie down, I'm gonna continue to live my life" etc and you decide to take up a sport. And the sport you choose is cycling?!
As I said, fair play to him!

KevIRL wrote: »

Some amazing pics from the paralympics

Silvio.Dante

Colin just missed out on a medal by less .2 seconds. Gutted for him

But he's back in action over the coming days...:)

Dan man

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

ahhhh another 4th god dam it.

great achievement though just worst place to be at that moment.

James Dwyer was 4th also in the Equestrian Grade IV Individual Dressage event....so unlucky so far with all of the near misses...thankfully though, we have another dozen or so very good medal chances still to come....and Bethany Firth too of course who could get our first medal in the next 20 minutes.

F.R.

Gold for Bethany Firth

Dan man

Superb gold medal by young Bethany Firth....and Ireland are up and running in the medal count!!
8 gold medals are possible, certainly 6 or 7 anyway!!

Maryanne40

Good girl Betheny....wonderful achievement. What a swim!

Truman Burbank

That was Brilliant Bethany! For anyone who didn't catch the full medal ceremony - she walked out beaming, giddy with excitement, really chuffed. Great to see no dust gathering on that Tricolour!

Kerrydude1981

Congrats Bethany.

Silvio.Dante

Truman Burbank wrote: »

That was Brilliant Bethany! For anyone who didn't catch the full medal ceremony - she walked out beaming, giddy with excitement, really chuffed. Great to see no dust gathering on that Tricolour!

I'm delighted for her. wonderful achievement...:)

KevIRL

Brilliant stuff, well done Bethany

The_Kew_Tour

Just got in door to realise we have a Gold and World Record on track.:D

Super stuff!!

Silvio.Dante

A WR?

It just gets better...:)

KevIRL

Silvio.Dante wrote: »

A WR?

It just gets better...:)

Yep WR for Jason Smyth in the T13 100m on the track in his heat. Eased up toward the end as well - our very own Bolt

Dan man

I'm going to dub it Super Saturday as Ireland's Paralympians go for multiple medals tomorrow. It should be a golden day!!

Medal watch.... Jason Smyth is looking good to retain his Paralympic T13 100m title. A world record in the heats last night the ideal prep for tomorrow evening's final.....this should be gold medal number 2 for team Ireland!!

Michael McKillop is another young man looking to retain his Paralympic title and he competes for gold in the men's T37 800m. He's the best in the field by far so here's hoping he can make it gold medal number three...(counting of pre-hatched chickens of course ).

Darragh McDonald is another medal favourite in his event, the men's S6 400m Freestyle. A silver medal is within his grasp if he can produce his best form when it matters.

Other outside medal hopes include track cyclist Cathal Miller in the men's C5 Individual Pursuit and Catherine O'Neill in the women's F51 Club Throw (her main event being the F51 Discus in which she is World Champion).

Best of luck to all the Irish Paralympians tomorrow, it should be a day to remember!!


Jason Smyth en route to new World Record in London:



Michael McKillop:



Darragh McDonald with his Paralympic silver medal from Beijing 2008:

Silvio.Dante

I'll be working at the Navy/Notre Dame game today. But I should be home for Jason and Michael in the Athletics

Good luck one and all today...

ROCKMAN

Have Ireland 1 or 2 golds won?

I know we got one in the pool . well done girl , And the interview after and medal ceremony was brillant ,she had a really refreshing attitude , What sport is all about.

but did we win one one the track ? details please....

Dan man

ROCKMAN wrote: »

Have Ireland 1 or 2 golds won?

I know we got one in the pool . well done girl , And the interview after and medal ceremony was brillant ,she had a really refreshing attitude , What sport is all about.

but did we win one one the track ? details please....

1 gold so far...but that's about to change after today's action. Jason Smyth's world record was set in the heats.

Pherekydes

Silvio.Dante wrote: »

I'll be working at the Navy/Notre Dame game today. But I should be home for Jason and Michael in the Athletics

Good luck one and all today...

I'm going to the match. I hope I'm home by 7.

Dan man

Darragh McDonald is through to the final of the S6 400m freestyle as the fastest qualifier....bring on the final!!

Dan man

Catherine O'Neill is currently in 3rd place in the club throw....she qualifies for the final round of throws....could be a medal here for Ireland.

Dan man

Catherine O'Neill finished agonisingly close to the medals in the Women's F31/32/51 Club Throw....another 4th place for the Irish team. It's a pity but her main event, the discus is still to come and she is feigning world champion in that event.

F.R.

GOLD

Superb swim by Darragh McDonald in the 400m freestyle

Maryanne40

Just brilliant for Darragh and Ireland....and what a swim by Ellie Simmonds for GB just there...she really is a legend!

Dan man

Have been avoiding this forum to watch the Darragh McDonald's race on the sky player....was well worth the wait. Well done Darragh, done us proud.

Medal watch....
IRELAND 2 GOLD 0 SILVER 0 BRONZE 2 TOTAL

The_Kew_Tour

hopefully we can add to that on track later. great day so far.

Dan man

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

hopefully we can add to that on track later. great day so far.

Hope so, 2 more golds this evening from Jason and Michael will push us into the top 10 in the medal table :eek:
We've had multiple 4th places so far too so the Paralympians are doing the country proud over in London.