Rio 2016 Paralympics Megathread

Jason Smyth safely through. Won his heat and topped the timesheet.

Good stuff!

Tin Foil Hat

maudgonner wrote: »

Jason Smyth safely through. Won his heat and topped the timesheet.

Good stuff!

He feckin' jogged it, the fecker. A very impressive young man.

jimmy blevins

Anti-fascist paramilitary jailed for 84 years for bomb attack, loses use of legs after going on hunger and now multiple Paralympian swimmer.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastián_Rodríguez_Veloso

Gizmo55

Really wish RTE were showing more. Rob Walker on CH4 does my head in.

Bethany Firth from Northern Ireland won gold and broke the world record last night for team GB. Great effort.

I think she previously swam for Ireland.

It's interesting how little traffic this thread gets in comparison to the standard Olympics.

Smyth's race coming up soon.

14 year old Nicole Turner finishes 2nd in her heat and qualifies as 4th fastest for the S6 50m Butterfly final at 10:18pm tonight

maudgonner wrote: »

Smyth's race coming up soon.

I don't think anyone will get near him and I expect he will walk it. Not literally.

timthumbni wrote: »

I don't think anyone will get near him and I expect he will walk it. Not literally.

I hope you're right. We'll find out in a few seconds!

YES!

Gold. Always in control. Superb achievement.

PTH2009

congrats

could he represent us in the main olympics or would his sight problems cause him too much problems ???

dublinman1990

I just watched the race on RTE. Fantastic stuff.

He deserves the Gold for Ireland with that effort alone. Well done Jason Smyth.

PTH2009 wrote: »

congrats

could he represent us in the main olympics or would his sight problems cause him too much problems ???

He tried to qualify for 2012 but just missed out on the time.

I think he may have competed in Commonwealth Games though?

He's amazing. It's a pity the T13 200m has been cut

maudgonner wrote: »

He tried to qualify for 2012 but just missed out on the time.

I think he may have competed in Commonwealth Games though?

Yeah, he just missed out on the Olympics in London by 4 hundredths of a second.
He did compete in a European Games, think he was selected for NI for commonwealth games but missed out due to injury

Just caught the end of his interview on C4, he was talking about going to Tokyo in 4 years!

Anyone know when the medal ceremony is?

the groutch

maudgonner wrote: »

He tried to qualify for 2012 but just missed out on the time.

I had always wondered about that.
The olympic qualifying time was supposedly 10.22, but then you see guys in the heats who can't even break 10.5
Find it hard to believe that everyone there had run a 10.22 to qualify

MrKingsley

No they said it would be live on the RTE website.

Does anyone know the name of the female analyst on the couch this afternoon? She was so well spoken and clearly knew her stuff yet ive never seen her on RTE before

MrKingsley wrote: »

No they said it would be live on the RTE website.

Does anyone know the name of the female analyst on the couch this afternoon? She was so well spoken and clearly knew her stuff yet ive never seen her on RTE before

Jessie Barr. Tommy's sister, she was also on RTE for his final in the Olympics. She qualified for London as well

Jessica Barr. She's an international athlete herself and sister of Thomas Barr.
I've only seen her on RTE for his final a couple of weeks ago, when she understandably found it hard to hold it all together.

Doh, Brian beat me to it. He's obviously quicker off the blocks....

MrKingsley

Brian017 wrote: »

Jessie Barr. Tommy's sister, she was also on RTE for his final in the Olympics. She qualified for London as well

Ah right. I wasnt watching his final in Ireland so that explains it

funtime93

Kinda pathetic that Ireland do well at the Paralympics but can't hack it at the real proper Olympics.

CorkColin

anywhere to watch a replay of it? completely forgot about it

Why do those assisted girl runners wear blindfolds exactly?

And well done to Jason smyth.

timthumbni wrote: »

Why do those assisted girl runners wear blindfolds exactly?

And well done to Jason smyth.

I think it's to make sure it's an even playing field. Some of them are completely blind, some have a small degree of vision.

DEFTLEFTHAND

PTH2009 wrote: »

congrats

could he represent us in the main olympics or would his sight problems cause him too much problems ???

He has competed in able bodied athletics in the past. He won a European 4x100 relay bronze with the Irish team in 2011.

Neady83

funtime93 wrote: »

Kinda pathetic that Ireland do well at the Paralympics but can't hack it at the real proper Olympics.

This is the real proper olympics for persons with disabilities. These athletes show just as much commitment and dedication to their sports as those competing in the olympics. It's disrespectful to these athletes to insinuate that the Paralympics isn't on par with the Olympics. We should be as proud if not more proud of the athletes that compete in the Paralympics.

You know there is something hugely impressive about wheelchair basketball. Very skillful and some of those guys look to have huge upper body/arm strength.

Quite rough as well. I wouldn't fancy arm wrestling any of those guys.