All aboard

Had my children been on holiday and my family enjoying our half term visit to London this week, we would definitely have gone to see the victory parade for the Olympic medal winners today. We devoured the Olympics and to say that the games saved August for us would not be an exaggeration. My son and I regularly did six hour stints in front of the television watching any sport (except sailing – there were limits) and we watched at all hours. The closest either of us got to participating in any sport during that fortnight was driving to the nearby field where my horse was recuperating from an injury and throwing some food and pain killers in his general direction. (While the three day event was happening we told him how the Brits were doing while he ate before jumping back into the car and hurrying back to the sofa.) I wept at medal ceremonies, marvelled at the skill and commitment of the competitors and dived under cushions which I chewed while London’s contribution to the closing ceremony was being broadcast. I watched the whole closing ceremony. That is how much I loved the Olympics.

I can’t say I watched a single second of the Paralympics, although I did catch a fascinating programme before the games about a paralympic dressage rider and his preparation for his event. The achievements of the paralympians are in many cases greater than those of the able bodied Olympians but they are personal triumphs, sources of great interest and pride to the family and friends of the competitors and of no more than passing interest to anyone else. I don’t know anyone who watched the Paralympics. Not even my most sport-obsessed male friends who will watch football matches between Burundi and Ulan-Bator, DVDs of rugby matches played last century, in fact anything that involves running around wearing a number, even shinty. And yet despite the fact that there must be few people in the UK who were not directly involved with the paralympics who could name a single athlete, the paralympic medallists paraded today alongside the Olympians. Their achievements are impressive but in no way comparable to those of the athletes who triumphed over thousands of others worldwide to qualify for and win their events. The numbers of disabled athletes competing worldwide in each event are tiny in comparison. Having them on the open-topped bus alongside Chris Hoy was awkwardly inclusive at best, head-pattingly patronising at worst.