Forget the Humans: Here come the Superhumans!

So goes the strapline from the remarkable short film advertisement of the 

UK Channel 4 coverage of the London Paralympics.

Tomorrow from 8pm local time the biggest and most watched Paralympics of all time will be launched with an Opening Ceremony at the same London Olympic Stadium which saw the  Ceremonies of the XXXth Olympic Games within this past month.

But if you wondered how the different classes of ability are decided upon for contests within the Paralympics, there is a classification system which UK Broadcaster Channel 4 has attempted to decipher to make viewing and understanding easier: the Lexicon Decoder, or LEXI for short.

It has been created by broadcaster and Paralympic gold medallist Giles Long, and is a graphic-heavy system of classification which identifies severe to no impairments with a stick man and traffic light colouring system to simplify one of the great contentious issues of paralympian sport. It is often compared to the weight or age classes that exist in able-bodied sport, but is complex and changeable.

Helping with the classification for the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) are physiotherapists like Rob Kinder, who explained his role to the CHartered Society of Physiotherapy's 'Frontline' magazine recently in ensuring a fair and level playing field  for competitors (sadly unavailable to link to). As a full-time neurophysio with Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation,  Rob is tasked with classifying athletes with physical impairment as opposed to intellectual or visual impairments, and has to rate how they affect daily function.

The classification panel is usually made up of a doctor, physio and coach, and the athlete will have either a confirmed class status where the condition is unlikely to change, or a reviewable status for those with a variable condition subject to potential change or deterioration.

There are three stages to the classification, with medical histories and benchmark testing leading to observation of the sporting activity in training and warm-up, then onto competitive sport itself when there is high performance activity undertaken to the best of the athlete's ability with less likelihood of any attempts to 'cheat the system' than may happen in a training environment for any benefit of the classification system.

'Thanks for the Warm Up' Channel 4 Ad...

So for viewers that need to slake their thirst for international sporting competition fresh from the Olympics can watch armed with the LEXI, and with a fresh appreciation for these super humans, some of whom will not even have had a classification at the time of the last Games due to the fact their injuries have been only sustained since Beijing in 2008. Sobering but inspirational.

Be Strong: The Changing Face of Cycling

A bad week for cycling?
The Lance Armstrong capitulation in the face of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) case against him has significantly tainted the greatest cycling event, The Tour de France in addition to leaving Armstrong's entire career achievements as being open to suspicion.


All this on top of the hugely successful public face of the cycling at the Olympics with thpusands of people lining the courses for both the Time Trial & Road Race as well as the packed crowds at the Velodrome in Olympic Park for track events.


There is a quality graphic in the New York Times that displays just how tainted Le Tour's podium and pelton has been.

At least Bradley Wiggins as the most recent winner suggests that there is no place for drugs, and Dave Brailsford as head of the Sky Team has teamwork at its core rather than pharmaceuticals or blood doping.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/24/sports/top-finishers-of-the-tour-de-france-tainted-by-doping.html?ref=cycling

I declare the Games of the XXXth Olympiad...closed

Words of Dr Jacques Rogge on Sunday 12th August as he closed the London Games at the spectacular Closing Ceremony ( read here for Closing Ceremony Report).

He was watched by record crowds on tv as well as basking in the pride of having huge crowds at all events-despite the online ticketing chaos that left many frustrated watching the LOCOG ticketmaster site at a rate of 25 million per day at its peak.

'Site Full' signs were hung at all major sites if collective viewing cone Sunday be they Hyde Park, Haggerston or Victoria north of the river.

The free to view events such as the cycle road race, time trial, marathon, triathlon & even the 10k open water swim were supported with numbers of up to 20 deep in certain places for glimpses of views of newfound or recognised heroes of sport. Ticketed events were alos recognised for being electric for the athletes in terms of atmosphere Crowds light up venues.

So a HUGE feeling of public celebration of support has occured showing that perhaps Britain has more interest in sport than it gets credited with. It is not all about the round ball!
There is a feeling perhaps that with actual  support for the Games football coming from a different demographic than regularly witnesses professional football (and when they came they came: witness over 80000 for womens' closing stages) then perhaps this demonstrates in large part how the standard product is watched not only for sport but for the tribal package that predominantly British men buy into on a very regular basis.

That us NOT the sport we have witnessed over this part fortnight:less theatre than panto. Less hetoic thsn tragic-comic at times. Let's here it for the real heroes of British sport & support them as well or instead of those that cheat, dive, argue & abuse.

Before Pistorius there was Aimee Mullins challenging opinion...and Cremaster!

Aimee Mullins competed in the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics running in 'blades' not unlike those sported this week by Olympian and Paralympian  Oscar Pistorius of South Africa.

Born without fibulae in her legs, model Mullins spoke of "the opportunity of adversity" and challenged ideas about beauty, identity & assumptions that are made by society about perceived disability.

She has spoken of "the prosthetic limb standing as a symbol that the wearer has the power to create whatever they want to create in that space" and that they become "architects of their own identities".

from Superhuman brochure, Wellcome Collection

Powerful and thought provoking messaging. All the more so as she took on a number of roles in artist Matthew Barney's extraordinary looking film 'Cremaster 3', each new identity requiring a diffetent set of prosthetic legs including her Paralympic blades and others made from transparent resin.

Stills and more of this and other remarkable stories are available free to view in the Wellcome Collection at the 'Superhuman' exhibition exploring human enhancement from 600BCE all the way to projections for 2050.

Appropriate viewing while Oscar runs on his blades in front of 80,000 souls at the Olympic Stadium whilst there rages in the background a debate on enhancement from his engineering advancements as well as pharmaceutical support, or the 'Mondo' fast track surface at the stadium: should we stop or support progress?

London's Regeneration Legacy - Interactive

Legacy is the buzzword.

Urban regeneration a key element to any bid process for major sporting events.

See how London has regenerated the east part of the city to host the XXX Olympiad.

Here are some images run by the Guardian newspaper showing the differences that have occurred in Stratford, worth a look for any of the officials, athletes, volunteers and visitors to East London.

Interactive Stratford Legacy

Make sure you try using the clever interactive graphic slider to witness the metamorphosis over the seven years since London won the bid.

Newham Council have also released a time lapse video demonstrating in just 107 seconds the changes taking place and how the urban landscape has changed forever: