Paralympics

Photographs re the upcoming Paralympics. Most were taken when I was in China with the Irish Squad at a Familiarisation Camp last Aug/Sept.

Eamon Harvey (Coach) with athlete Lisa Callaghan

a C.P. Javelin Thrower that is coached by Eamon

and who will be competing in Beijing

She is seen regularly around the Abbey Voc School

and trains with our Tues and Thurs night groups

when she is in Donegal

The Olympic Stadium

Nearing completion when we visited in 2007

It's an amazing structure and is called the 'Birds Nest'

The complete Irish Squad at the Familiarisation Camp Aug/Sept 07

One World, One Dream

The Paralympic motto/poster on a Wall in

Tenamen Square

Coach Stephan Maguire & Jason Smyth in Beijing 2007.

Jason is from Limavady and has an excellent chance of winning the 100/200m B3

partially sighted class. He is the highest Irish Sports Council funded athlete

in Ireland at the moment i.e. Paralympic or able bodied.

Stephan Maguire is from Strabane and will travel as

one of the team coaches to Beijing

The countdown to the Olympics was on every street corner

see background in this photograph

Acrobatics is a profession in Chaina.

They have a special University for the art

and we attended an acrobatics show while

we were there, it was breathtaking

Lisa Callaghan training at the camp we used in 2007

We return there on 24th August and train for 10 days

before moving into the Olympic Village, the Paralympics

known as the Parallel Olympics will have daily

coverage on RTE TV and Radio

and will end on Sept 18th

Team Launch

A photograph taken when the Paralympic Team

was announced in June, to gain selection an athlete

must have an 'A Standard' and with most of our 10 Track and Field

athletes are ranked in the top 15 fifteen in the world

L-R: Jason Smyth, Derry, Class B3,Sprinter;

Patrice Dochary, Dublin, Class 57 Sprinter/Middle Distance

and Lisa Callaghan, Meath, Class F37 Javelin

Alan Swanton, video analysis, NCTC,Limerick

who works with the coaches/athletes.

Alan has assisted the Paralympic coaches/athletes

over the past 4 years.