Paralympics 2012: London Games Under Way On Opening Day
The London 2012 Paralympics are under way at the Olympic Park with athletes competing for 28 gold medals on Thursday’s opening day of action.
Table tennis, goalball, shooting and equestrian were the first events to start the 14th Games at 09:00 BST.
Two British athletes, swimmer Jonathan Fox and cyclist Sarah Storey, broke world records on the opening morning.
Di Coates, 58, was one of Paralympic GB’s biggest gold medal hopes, but failed to reach the R2 air rifle final.
British swimmer Nyree Kindred set a new Paralympic record in the S6 100m backstroke within the first hour of the Games.
The Queen declared the Paralympics officially open during Wednesday’s spectacular opening ceremony watched by some 80,000 spectators.
But attention has turned to the sporting action with crowds flocking back to the Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, 18 days after the Olympic closing ceremony.
About 4,200 athletes from 164 countries, including 300 from the home nation, will compete in 21 sports across the next 11 days.
Current world champion Fox set the first world record of the Games by beating his own time in the men’s S7 100m backstroke at the Aquatics Centre. The Beijing silver medallist won his heat in one minute 9.86 seconds to qualify for Thursday’s final (18:52 BST).
Minutes later in the Velodrome, Storey matched Fox’s feat with a time of 3:32.170 in the C5 individual pursuit – more than a second better than her own 2009 mark.
Kindred, who has won nine medals in three Paralympics, made a dream start to the Games as she aims to regain the S6 100m backstroke title she lost at Beijing in 2008.
She swam a Games record time of one minute 27.96 seconds in her heat to reach the final later on Thursday (17:38 BST).
But there was disappointment for shooter Coates, who was competing in a joint-record eighth Games, at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
A poor last round saw her finish on 389 points in ninth place, with only the top eight progressing to Thursday’s final (12:00 BST). Team-mates Karen Butler (12th) and Mandy Pankhurst (16th) also failed to qualify.
The first British team in action were the men’s goalball side, who lost 11-1 to Beijing silver medallists Lithuania in the Copper Box.
Paralympic legend Natalie du Toit, who has won 10 golds in the pool, is one of the biggest names to feature on day one. The South African swimmer is aiming to reach her first final in the S9 100m butterfly and is the strong favourite to clinch a third consecutive gold in the event.
Paralympics chief Lord Coe told the crowd at Wednesday’s opening ceremony: “Prepare to be inspired, prepare to be dazzled, prepare to be moved.”
Britain’s first Paralympic Games gold medallist, Margaret Maughan, 84, had the honour of lighting the cauldron.
Eight members of the British under-22 wheelchair basketball team carried the Paralympic flag into the stadium. It was raised by members of the armed forces, before the Queen declared the Games open.
British swimmer Liz Johnson, a medallist from Beijing 2008, wheelchair rugby judge Richard Allcroft and David Hunter, who is coaching the ParalympicsGB equestrian team, each stepped forward to take the official oaths on behalf of competitors and officials.
At the close of the ceremony, 24-year-old Royal Marine Commando Joe Townsend – an aspiring Olympic triathlete, who lost both legs while serving in Afghanistan – descended on a zip wire into the stadium from the top of the nearby Orbit tower.
He handed the flame to David Clarke, a member of the ParalympicsGB five-a-side football team, who passed the torch to Maughan, who won gold in archery at the 1960 Rome Paralympics.
BBC
