In a spectacular closing ceremony the London 2012 Paralympic Games drew to a close this evening. If anything the spectacular closing ceremony by far surpassed that of the Olympic closing ceremony.
I’ve much enjoyed both the Olympics and Paralympics and been amazed by the athletes. LOCOG and Sebastian Coe have done the country proud showcasing the athletes abilities and the niggles such as the over officious brand police and diabolical Channel4 TV coverage will soon be forgotten whilst the athletes achievements will be remembered.
I have to say that whilst the BBC coverage of the Olympics was brilliant Channel4 have much to learn. They not only cut to adverts during the entrance of the Greek Paralympians from the opening ceremonybut also managed to put an ad break in tonight’s closing ceremony and missed the lowering of the Paralympic Flag and the extinguishing of the Paralympic Flame.
Tomorrow will see a parade through the center of London to celebrate our Olympic and Paralympic hero and heroines. Royal Mail, Romec and Post Office employees, who have been involved in issuing the Gold Medal stamps, painting post boxes gold and delivering over six million tickets for the Games, have been chosen via a draw to take part in the parade. They will carry images of the 49 Gold Medal stamps to mark the gold medal achievements of athletes at the Games – 29 Gold Medal stamps for Team GB and 30 for ParalympicsGB.
Eva Loeffler OBE, the daughter of Dr Ludwig Guttmann
Royal Mail also painted over 80 of red post boxes gold in the home or training towns of the gold medal winning athletes. One very special post box was painted gold on Friday by Eva Loeffler OBE, the daughter of Dr Ludwig Guttmann, the founder of the Paralympic movement, which began in 1948.
Stratford is the home of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Eva painted the post box, outside the Post Office on The Broadway, Stratford, E15 4QS. It’s located in the heart of the community and is close to the Olympic Park. The gold post box will become a reminder of the many victories of Team GB and ParalympicsGB.
Eva has also played a role in the Paralympic Games, becoming the Mayor of the Athletes’ Village.
All that remains is to honour our final gold medal winners of the games with images of their gold medal stamps.
Jonnie Peacock Men’s T44 100m
There aren’t many who can call themselves the fastest ever Paralympian over 100m, in fact there’s only one person in the world that wears the crown and that’s Jonnie Peacock who won the Men’s T44 100m.
Jonnie’s stamp will be on sale in Doddington, Cambridgeshire where he lives as well as across the country during the course of the next week. Doddington is also where Royal Mail will paint a post box in Jonnie’s honour.
Josie Pearson Women’s F51/52/53 Discus Throw
Josie Pearson won the Women’s F51/52/53 Discus Throw on Friday. Josie comes from the village of Brilley, near Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire and that’s where you’ll find her gold pillar box.
All six of Josie’s throws would have been good enough to win gold, and her winning throw was yet another Paralympic and World record for Britain.
David Stone Mixed T1-2 Road Race
Winning at Brands Hatch in front of an adoring crowd isn’t something many of us will ever achieve, but David Stone blitzed the field to win the mixed road race on Saturday. It wasn’t an easy victory and David had to dig deep until finally breaking away to win by a clear seven seconds.
David’s post box which is now gold is situated outside Rawdon Post Office, Leeds having been painted this Sunday.
David Weir Men’s T54 Road Marathon
Britain’s last gold medal of the London 2012 games was David Weir’s fourth! That means he gets a fourth gold medal stamp following his triumphs in the Men’s 5000m – T54, Men’s 1500m – T54 and Men’s 800m – T54.
Yet another gold pillar box will be painted in Davids honour for winning what was a close race. Crossing the line in 1hr 30m and 20s he was just a second ahead of the silver and bronze winners who were barely separated both being clocked at a time of 1hr 30m and 21s. Apparently Omega don’t do hundredths of a second for marathons!
A worthy winner and the greatest wheelchair racer ever, David rounded off the tally of 30 gold medals for Britian.
One Response
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Simply a superb bunch of global Athletes, held in my highest Esteem.
110% respect to you all.