Back to centre stage for the superhumans
LONDON 2012 gave the impression, however briefly, of a less cynical time. As Sebastian Coe said in his closing address: “We will never think of sport the same way and we will never think of disability the same way.”
Over 12 days, perceptions were changed; for arguably the first time, the wider public looked beyond disability. Helped by Channel 4’s excellent coverage — all kicked off by the memorable Superhumans commercial — and the comedy programme it spawned, the similarly excellent The Last Leg, it gave disabled stars an aura of cool.
Gone were the previous predispositions, the cynicism lifted even more from those Games than the Olympics that had preceded it.
In truth, many who snapped up the remaining Paralympics tickets in the golden glow of those Olympics did so, in part, because they had missed out on the initial party and wanted to play a part. But it was never as if the Paralympics that summer — as they had done before and arguably have done since — played second fiddle.
In fact, quite the opposite. If anything, the noise inside the Olympic Stadium may have even been louder for the second main event of that heady summer of sport.
At the time of competition, in many ways the name did not matter, merely the nationality. For every British entry that graced the track or field, it was incidental to a certain degree whether it be Jonnie Peacock laying down his marker as the fastest para sprinter or a British athlete finishing last in their heat.
But the noise as each home competitor was called out was deafening to the point of unreal. Athletes in the bowels of the stadium fresh from the cacaphony — immaterial of their result — talked about the goosebump feeling.
While Peacock’s achievements were remarkable, so too the quadruple golds of David Weir, for me the highlight stood away from the track in an American swimmer, Brad Snyder.
In 2011 Snyder stepped on an improvised explosive device while on duty in Afghanistan, losing both his eyes among other injuries. But a year to the day later he celebrated 400m freestyle gold in the pool and, led by a guide, reached out to shake the hand of every journalist.
His story, though, was replicated by others in the athletics — such as the British discus thrower Derek Derenalagi, who was found to still have a pulse as his body was being prepared for a body bag following an explosion in Afghanistan in 2007.
And so to London 2017. Next month marks the return to the same venue, although the name has changed to the London Stadium.
But again there is a chance for the Para athletes to take centre stage, this time as the precursor to the ensuing IAAF World Championships.
Gone is the No 1 athletics story of five years ago. Weir has hung up his international colours and is still toying with whether he will race on in the world’s most prestigious marathons.
Some of those who became household names in London return, Peacock and Hannah Cockroft bidding for repeats half a decade on.
But there are newer faces whose formidable feats first appeared in the Rio de Janeiro Games: for example Kadeena Cox, who had multiple sclerosis diagnosed in 2014 but became a Paralympic gold medallist
Over 12 days perceptions were changed; for arguably the first time the public looked beyond disability
in both athletics and cycling two years later. She will focus on the spikes this summer and is expected to come to the fore once more.
But the hope is that other names will also come into the public psyche, as the capital acts as the backdrop for the Paralympic movement.
There are those, such as Weir, who believe the International Paralympic Committee have not done enough to push on the movement in the intervening years — at least with regards to athletics.
Used to competing in the early part of his career in front of what he said was “one man and his dog, quite literally”, Weir fears para sport has taken a backward step.
But the IPC did themselves no harm with how events played out in Rio and their handling of the Russia situation, as IPC president Sir Philip Craven declared the Russian team ineligible for competition, whereas the IOC had opted against following the lead of the blanket ban given to the nation by the IAAF.
The IPC and IAAF bans remain but won’t be central to the conversation at London 2017.
Sales have been good — helped in part by effectively running the World Para Athletics and World Championships as one, the former finishing 13 days before the latter — but tickets remain.
The coming weeks are a chance for a throwback to 2012 but also a throw forward to the future, an opportunity for para athletes to be in the spotlight again.