Combining the power of highly competitive sport with the power of the human stories behind each and every competitor. From the very beginning with the albeit less powerful opening ceremony following the Olympics masterpiece, we knew we were in for a tremendous ride.
The Opening Ceremony was never going to match Danny Boyle's stunner, but with some truly amazing imagery from the likes of Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson flying through the air to the arrival of the flame in the hands of Soldier Joe Townsend descending from the Orbit Tower. Perhaps the moment of the ceremony however had to come from the inspired idea of performing the once banned song Spasticus Autisticus by Ian Drury. An amazing moment.
However the truly amazing moments were to come in the days following the ceremony as the athletes took centre stage. A story behind every disability, and a power and determination to succeed at everything. These people were not blocked by anything, other than things that were out of control.
Together we marvelled at swimmers with no arms. Long jumpers with no sight. High jumpers with one leg. Archers holding their bows with their feet. These people had nothing in their way to prevent them performing.
On the day that Wayne Rooney gave an interview in the press about the trials of his injury, weight, and hair loss. I watched a tennis player in a motorised wheel chair catching the ball with his feet and tossing the serve with them. If the likes of Rooney and the sickness of their monstrous pay packets whining wasn't bad enough at the best of times, during the Paralympics, it belied belief.
The only dull part of the event came from the Channel 4 coverage. Never up with the blanket delight the BBC offered, coupled with the glaring need for advertisements, it came a very poor second. Presenters and commentators were inadequate also, with the only quality coming from those that had been stolen from the BBC. When watching the running in the Olympic Stadium, there is something quite wrong when in the background of Rob Walker's commentary you can hear someone feeding him his lines.
London 2012 in both Olympic and Paralympic form has hopefully taught us many things. The true role models lie in these people, not in those that take home thousands of pounds a week for kicking a football, or those monsters that enter the Big Brother house, or those that are made into stars on the likes of The X-Factor.
These people have worked hard, dedicated their lives to their chosen sport, for little or no return. They also, through their broad smiles throughout, looked like they wanted to be their, unlike the constant sour looks of those other stars.
They were there for pride in their sport, pride in their country and pride in their performance. We all should learn a lot from that.
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