Alex Zanardi - hero

[Rob Gaskin]

I was full of admiration for this guy when he came back after his accident to successfully race world touring cars, but he has now gone in another direction and won there too.



Ex-F1 ace Zanardi wins Paralympic gold - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

[richiep]

Superb - the man is utterly inspirational. In fact that is something that could be said about all of the Paralympic athletes - some of the things they have been able to do despite their challenges, put most able-bodied people - and many able-bodied athletes - to shame.

[STEVE BURNS]

Originally Posted by richiep

Superb - the man is utterly inspirational. In fact that is something that could be said about all of the Paralympic athletes - some of the things they have been able to do despite their challenges, put most able-bodied people - and many able-bodied athletes - to shame.

100% agree
Although IMHO The only slight downer was the South African guy winging about blade lengths after coming second in the 200m final A bit hypocritical after the main argument he put forward to competing in the Olympics 400m was that blades did not give an improvement of performance over normal limbs

[moggy240]

we get quite good coverage of the Paralympics in OZ .its amazing to see them all action.i was impressed with the swimers that have a arm missing.the effort they put in !!!!!!!!!!!!! and its great to see the crowds are giving them lots of support.

[richiep]

On the topic of Zanardi, in an interview a few days ago, he raised the possibility of being interested in racing in the Indy 500 if he can get a drive. Alternatively, he said competing in the DTM would be "super cool"! So, keep an eye out for him coming out of retirement and getting back behind a wheel maybe!!!

[Rob Gaskin]

Steve, Oscar is a great guy he just wants a level playing field and that must be difficult with the technology involved.

Watching these games just drives it home to me how sport (like anything) is so much down to mental strength and desire. I remember reading about Alex and he said that his ability to win in a car was not down to his legs but his mind! So as long as the technology was there to drive the car he could still be quick.

Swimming - I'm a poor swimmer and these guys and gals are amazing. Like someone 'in the know' said 'when you only have one arm swimming in a straight line is difficult' !

Respect

Also as a nation we should be very proud of how the Olympics and Paralympics have gone. They have been a huge 'positive' and raised the profile of sports (other than football) and disabled people.

[STEVE BURNS]

Originally Posted by Rob Gaskin

Steve, Oscar is a great guy he just wants a level playing field and that must be difficult with the technology involved.

Oscar broke the world record in the 200m heats and ran faster than all the other Qualifiers on the night.he didn't complain then about the length of others blades then even though all the blades people used were with in the roles specifcation

The next night Oscar did not run as fast and came second simple if he had ran as fast as he did in qualifying for the final he would have come first