Paralympics: Wheelchair Fencing

My plan to go and see some wheelchair fencing on Saturday was complicated by a short-notice visit from my mam. I bought her a ticket to see The Woman in Black but I still felt a bit guilty about leaving her to wander around Covent Garden for three hours, especially as she doesn’t know London all that well. She managed, though.

I had to go all the way to the ExCel Centre, so got the RV1 bus to Tower Gateway station (ticking it off my ‘stations’ list in the process) and took the DLR. The ExCel Centre wasn’t as busy or buzzing as the Olympic Park, I thought, but perhaps that’s because it was later in the day. The different arenas were signposted pretty well, a Very Good Thing since my capacity for getting lost is astonishing.

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The ExCel Centre

Wheelchair fencing wasn’t quite what I expected. I’d assumed the participants would be whizzing round the floor doing 360° turns and trying to prick each other with the point of their sword. However, the wheelchairs were locked to the floor and though the competitors could wiggle about and sway back and forth they couldn’t actually budge the chair. Also, they had to keep their non-fencing hand on the wheelchair handle at all times. I wouldn’t say it was boring exactly, but it wasn’t as entertaining as I’d hoped. In fairness to the sport I should point out that my understanding of the rules was slim to nil and though I was trying to work out what was going on, I didn’t entirely succeed.

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I got to see both the Bronze medal match (Hong Kong v Italy) and the Gold medal match (France v China). In between, I popped out to get a drink from the bar. I asked for a lager only to be told that there was none left. The assistant must have seen the look of horror on my face because she quickly said that they still had some cider left. So cider I drank.

In the end, China won, adding another gold medal to their already rather impressive tally. France ended up with silver and Hong Kong came out with bronze. It all finished a bit earlier than I’d expected, leaving me plenty of time to get back to Covent Garden and meet my mam as she came out of the theatre.

The Olympic Park

I managed to get some last-minute Paralympic tickets – for the athletics, no less. I was pretty excited about seeing the inside of the Olympic Park.

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Welcome to the Olympic Park

The stadium is pretty awesome, and even though my seat only cost £10 I still had a really good view. The atmosphere was fantastic, and there was even a Mexican wave going! I got to see some running, wheelchair races, long jump, javelin and discus – the highlight of the morning was seeing Aled Davies win gold.

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The Park itself is huge. There are areas for lots of other sporting events such as BMX and swimming. There are a surprising number of green spaces too. You can walk around the stadium by the river, which is really lovely and peaceful, and there are lots of flowers.

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At the other end of the park there is a stage where live bands play. My friends and I were sitting on the grass with our drinks and who should make an appearance on the stage but Mandeville (the Paralympic mascot). The Olympic mascots scare me a little, but kids love them: they were jumping up and down waving the cuddly Mandevilles they’d obviously nagged their parents into buying for them. The experience was bizarre to say the least.

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Watch out, it’s Mandeville!

On Saturday I get to see some wheelchair fencing at the ExCel centre. I’m quite looking forward to it.