The Paralympics Have Gripped Britain

There was some concern among us Brits here in London that when the Olympics were over, the Paralympics would be an anti-climax.

With no Usain Bolt, could they possibly match the Olympics? We shouldn’t have worried.

Monday, I took a day off work and went to the Olympic Park with my family to watch the Paralympics. The place was absolutely buzzing.

Thousands of people from every corner of the Earth were milling around drinking in the atmosphere. People with “day passes” were standing in line in the sun hoping to get in to events like wheelchair tennis. There was a real delight on people’s faces at being there, and I witnessed passion and excitement for the various paralympic sports I saw.

The Aquatics Center was packed and extremely noisy. When a “Team GB” swimmer overtook competitors to win his heat (this was a non-medal session) there was a deafening roar from the crowd.

The building seemed to shake.

I watched as two Paralympic world records were set. Again, thunderous noise from the capacity crowd. And even clapping and cheering for competitors who finished last. The crowd showed its appreciation for the obvious and massive efforts some of the athletes were making despite physical restrictions that you might think would make competition impossible.

Far from it. Later, in the basketball arena, I watched the Netherlands take on Brazil in wheelchair basketball. The Dutch in the crowd, many in their traditional orange, were raucous, chanting soccer-style anthems.

The place was not packed to the rafters, but it was very busy. And full of kids cloaked in their country’s flags. Again, this wasn’t at a medal game.

When I was standing in line at a water fountain, I overheard a group of people talking about the competitors they were following. They’d done their research and they knew a lot about these athletes.

Ticket sales for these Paralympics have been massive in the UK. I tried to apply for extra tickets this week on the ‘London 2012′ website, but could not. All sold out, it said (at least for the events I was after).

Some tickets are being made available at the venues each day, but the general picture is that the London Paralympics are on course to be a sell-out.

Reports say 1.9 million Paralympic tickets were sold in Beijing 2008. They say London 2012 should hit a record 2.5 million. So if anyone thought the London Games were only about the likes of Usain Bolt, they might want to think again.

These Paralympics – at least as far as I can see – have caught on here. And I’ve just read that the TV channel broadcasting the Games here in the UK is reporting a surge in advertising requests as viewing figures have far exceeded early expectations.