[Closed] Bit dusty in here tonight....(Paralympic spoilers within...)

Bloody hell, That last 50m was flipping awesome. Her stroke rate was so high!!

Ha! Brilliant! She didn't know if she was coming or going in that interview...

Girl did good - 6 secs off the WR

Bit dusty here as well. What a race.

Awesome, balling my eyes out here

Medal ceremony now...!

Jason Smyth - HOLYCRAPOLA he's fast!

He's seriously fast. His action, leg lift and style are utterly perfect to watch. To do that with 10% vision....Incredible.

Wow.

Astonishing, both of them! Ellie is incredible, what a girl, and the noise... 😯

Was at the track yesterday and saw Hannah Cockroft win her heat easily. Sorry to miss Jason Smyth though as he ran in a different session. Irish eyes will be smiling for Jason.

Right now flashy I hate you so much. No paralympics on french TV :'(. Mind you, we get football all year long. That's enough people with disabilities as they usually move in bunch of 22.

You lot are all soft in the head.

Running with 10% vision wont be any different from running with full vision. It's not as if they're looking where they're placing their foot.

No paralympics on french TV

Vraiment?

That's just plain wrong.

That's just plain wrong.

You lot are all soft in the head.

Running with 10% vision wont be any different from running with full vision. It's not as if they're looking where they're placing their foot.

My point is this: Sprinting is not an activity that needs much in the way of eyesight. It's not a fantastic run when compared to people with "normal" eyesight. To say that it is a fantastic run is in my opinion patronising - is it simply a "oh look at that blind guy run, didnt he do well for a guy who cant see much"

gmupton maybe you should try to run in a straight line blindfold and not tripping on yourself.

But that would put me in the B1 class or T11 race. Not the B3 or T13 that the Irish guy competes in.

"oh look at that blind guy run, didnt he do well for a guy who cant see much"

IIRC he reached the semis of the European Athletic Championships recently.

Blind or not, he's effing quick.

My youngest son is going to the Para Olympics on Thursday with his school, he will be going to the swimming and Athletics I wish I could go with him, first time he will of been to Englands capital city.

Given he missed qualifying for the Olympics by 0.04 secs and he ran 10.46 secs in the final I do think it is a fantastic run. His disease means he has peripheral vision at most. To run flat out, stay in lane and win by such a margin does require a huge amount of practice, dedication and natural ability.

I would suggest trying to put on blacked out sunglasses and try and run flat out yourself.

Just given the wife a talking to - the amount f bloody dust in this place tonight!

Saw a guy finishing the 1500 heat earlier, miles behind everyone else ( think it was 1500 anyways - just happened to see the guy finishing) and it was proper dusty!

Inspirational.

Oh come on. Yes he's quick, but he's not effing quick, or fantastically quick, or anything else similar that you might care to use.

If he was any of those he would have been at the Olympics. Oscar Pistorius and his achievements will do a lot to raise the goals in paralympic sport, which can only ever be a good thing.

The relationship between impairment, function and disability is complex, There is no need to go overboard and say that someone is amazing when they have an impairment that doesnt affect their function in a particular activity - that is patronising and doesnt help anyone.

Anyone see Richard Whitehead in the 200m?

Yes - that was very impressive.

Oh come on. Yes he's quick, but he's not effing quick, or fantastically quick, or anything else similar that you might care to use.

glupton, Usain Bolt holds the world record at 9.58 and Jason Smyth with 10% vision runs it 10.46 and you say the above, are you just trolling?

Wondered how long the trolling accusation would take to come along.

No I am not trolling.

I have made my point very clear. Your opinion may differ as to whether their performance is fantastic or whatever.

I agree our opinions are very different.

glupton1976 - Member

My point is this: Sprinting is not an activity that needs much in the way of eyesight.

How do you know?

Surely if vision was irrelevant we'd already have seen blind or partially sighted athletes succeeding in able bodied competition?

The very fact that we haven't suggests that it does make a significant difference.

The world would be boring if we all agreed on everything and had the same abilities. That's what makes the paralympics great.

Rusty spanner

How do you know?

Surely if vision was irrelevant we'd already have seen blind or partially sighted athletes succeeding in able bodied copmetition?

The very fact that we haven't suggests that it does make a significant difference.

How many people are visually impaired, how many of those are high level sprinters, how many high level sprinters of any functional ability go onto succeed in competition.

We havent had it, because statistics suggest that they wont get to that level with much frequency.

Watch any 100 meter run and once the athletes are up to speed their heads are up looking straight a head to the finish line, vision does play a big part of it.

How about the first bit?
How do you know that visual ability is irrelevant to sprinting ability?

Because many of the people in my family are blind or visually impaired and they get on just fine with the sports they do. I also work with severely visually impaired people on a regular basis.

What makes you so sure that it does affect their sprinting ability?

Edit: this conversation is not liable to end with anybody changing their opinion, so this is my last post on the subject.

We've been in the Velodrome for the past 3 days. Today we saw Sarah Storey take Gold and Jon Butterworth take silver
I swear to god, I've never experienced anything like it. Ever when it was clear Jon was loosing quarter of a second a lap, the crowd got louder and louder and louder, lap after lap. It honestly gives you goosebumps, the emotion is astonishing. It's an experience I'll never, ever forget.

The support for every single athlete is amazing.

And yeah, I watched Ellie earlier, I was bouncing up and down on the sofa shouting at the TV. She knows how to put on a show, that girl! 🙂

Easy for non visually impaired to criticize, go down to your local running track put on a blind fold and try running 100 meters as fast as you can. 🙄

Sorry, I'll repost as I missed your edit.

glupton1976 - Member

The relationship between impairment, function and disability is complex, There is no need to go overboard and say that someone is amazing when they have an impairment that doesnt affect their function in a particular activity - that is patronising and doesnt help anyone.

though the extension of that argument is that there is no point having his event in the paralympics at all because it's not sufficiently more difficult than "standard" sprinting for it to be worthwhile. which is also quite a negative position.

glupton1976 - Member

Because many of the people in my family are blind or visually impaired and they get on just fine with the sports they do.

I also work with severely visually impaired people on a regular basis.

Edit: this conversation is not liable to end with anybody changing their opinion, so this is my last post on the subject.

My mind isn't made up about anything - I just read your first post and found it interesting.
I just wondered what evidence you had as you sounded so confident in your opinion. 😀

That Ellie Simmons interview was even better than the ones with Nicola Adams and Greg Rutherford.
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