Snowy London Marks 200 Days Until Paralympics

(ATR) LOCOG's director of Paralympic integration tells Around the Ringsthere are still "lots of details to get right" with just 200 days to go until the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Chris Holmes was speaking to ATR on the day that LOCOG also officially unveiled the completion of Eton Manor – the venue for wheelchair tennis on the Olympic Park – though bad weather conditions meant that media could not attend the unveiling in person.

"We’re in great shape with 200 days to go – especially with the completion of Eton Manor, a fantastic venue for our athletes. But we’re still incredibly focused on the task ahead – there are still lots of details to get right," Holmes told ATR.

"The major challenge for us is the sheer number of things to get right – putting them all together so that when the athletes get to the Games, they can just concentrate on giving the performance of their lives."

The 10,500-capacity venue at Eton Manor, with distinctive blue courts, is the only new venue designed to be used solely for Paralympic competition.

A total of 112 Paralympic athletes will compete for six medals in wheelchair tennis at the Paralympic Games. During the Olympic Games, the venue will provide temporary aquatic training facilities including three Olympic-size swimming pools, a synchronized swimming pool and a water polo pool.

Holmes added that being on the Olympic Park means that the athletes will benefit from the proximity of being at the heartbeat of the Games in East London. The venue gets its name from the old Eton Manor Sports Club, which had ties to the last London Olympics in 1948.

However, for the athletes and disabled spectators who will have to travel on public transport to venues, Holmes assured ATR that easy access is readily available – despiteLondon’s antiquated transport network.

"Wheelchair users will be able to get to all our venues. We’ve undertaken massive transport workwhich includes new buses that can hold up to six wheelchairs to move team’s quickly and efficiently," he said.

"The key to the transport issue is all about using the power of the Paralympics to inspire change. No one expects that you can transform a Victorian city like London, but you hope that by hosting the Games you inspire huge changes that will happen years and decades after that wouldn’t have happened before."

Earlier in the week, Oscar Pistorius claimed that London would be the first "truly international Paralympic Games" and Holmes echoed his comments by saying "we and our team are aiming at staging the greatest Paralympics ever."

"First of all, this is the first Paralympics to engage all the IOC TOP and Tier 1 & 2 partners. The reach of those companies is just incredible for us," he said.

"Secondly, we have a very strong broadcast offer through Channel 4 in this country, and we will make sure that this Games does get in front of new audiences all around the world."

In a statement, Minister for Sport and the Olympics and Paralympics Hugh Robertson said: "With only 200 days until the start of the Paralympic Games, the excitement is now building. It’s fantastic that an unprecedented one million Paralympic tickets have already been sold.

"I know our British Paralympians are training hard and looking forward to this once in a lifetime chance of competing at the biggest event in disability sport on home soil. I am sure we will put on a Paralympic Games to remember."

Reported in London by Christian Radnedge

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