The 2010 Paralympic Games are underway in Vancouver!
This Reuters image shows Liudmila Vauchok of Belarus crossing the finish line to win the women’s 10 kilometre cross country. I love that grin.
Another Reuters photo, of Canadian athlete Collette Bourgonje, the silver medalist in the women’s 10 kilometre cross country.
Are there any athletes and/or events you’re following? I’m personally very into wheelchair curling, and I believe Lauredhel recently dropped a link to a wheelchair curling blog, for those who’d like more information.
Related reading1 for those who’d like to delve into some of the social justice issues associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Games:
Toban Black at Racialicious: An Indigenous Olympics?
David Crary at The Irrawaddy: Vancouver’s Asians Feel Neglected by Olympic Hosts (via Racialicious)
Roxane Hudon at the Montreal Mirror: Games, Games, Go Away
Christopher A. Shaw and Alissa Westergard-Thorpe at Briarpatch Magazine: Class-War Games: The financial and social cost of “securing” the 2010 Olympics
Derrick O’Keefe at the Socialist Voice: Activists Debate Vancouver Olympic Protests
Paul Farhi at the Washington Post: Where the Rich and Elite Meet to Compete (while this is an old article, it touches upon some of the class issues involved in the Winter Olympic Games)
Sakura Saunders at the Vancouver Media Co-Op: Greenest Games Ever? (via Racialicious)
On the Paralympics specifically:
Peter McKnight at the Vancouver Sun: Should there be one Games for all?
Ali A. Rizvi at the Huffington Post: Vancouver 2010: It’s Not Over Yet! (You will want to grab a bingo card for this one.)
Douglas Todd at the Vancouver Sun: Accommodations for disabled have taken root
- Note: these articles focus mainly on the Olympics rather than the Paralympics, but the issues they address pertain to both Games. ↩
The BBC aren’t showing it
Apparently they’ll have one hour after it’s over!
I haven’t had a response to my complaint either.
Susan´s last blog ..Dear BBC,
There are also these two articles regarding the Paralympics:
William Peace (Bad Cripple) on the lack of mainstream media coverage for the 2010 Paralympics
Kimberley (WildKat) suggests holding the two sets of games at the same time
No, im not following the Paralympics or the Enabled Olympics, except to vehemently protest them. The Paralympics feed from the same trough that made way for the Enabled Olympics: brutal, ongoing funding cuts to PWD across the board — healthcare, welfare and PWD benefits, housing, education, arts, etc cuts which are having devastating impacts on PWD, for starters. The Paralympics are a part of the problem here in Vancouver for PWD, not cause for celebration.
I was upset I couldn’t watch the Paralympics on the BBC. Was also not impressed with the Summer Paralympics coverage in 2008, which were shown on the BBC.
–IP