London Anniversary Games: a fitting tribute

I was lucky enough to get my hands on tickets for the third day of the London Anniversary Games on Sunday (the International Para Challenge).

The Anniversary Games

It was brilliant to be back inside the Olympic Stadium for the first time in nearly 10 months, and to see some great performances – particularly the legendary Richard Whitehead (with his trademark late surge – see below), the dominant Hannah Cockroft and the sprint king Alan Oliveira.

The fact the British public have again embraced the athletics, with about 60,000 (the capacity for the weekend) there on each of the three days speaks volumes about how much London 2012 – both the Olympics and Paralympics – did to inspire people. The weekend was a fitting tribute to what last summer meant.

In some ways it was sad to see the park as it is today: the Aquatics Centre clipped of its wings, the Water Polo Arena and Basketball Arena now just mud.

But even so, it gave you a thrill just to be back at the scene of the greatest instalment of the greatest sporting show.

And, after all, the 2017 World Athletics Championships are not too far away (providing West Ham haven’t ruined the stadium too much by then).

My view of David Weir’s win in the T54 1500m at London 2012

IPC athletics coming to Wales

As if Welsh sport needed more good news after this, this, this and this, the International Paralympic Committee this week announced the 2014 Athletics European Championships would be coming to Wales.

Ahh… Been itching about this! Swansea win the bid for the IPC Europeans next year! A big comp on welsh soil! #buzzin

— Aled Davies MBE (@AledDavies2012) March 22, 2013

From the Olympic Stadium to Swansea University…

The championships will be held at Swansea University, which is quite a coup for them – especially if the national media embraces the six-day event with a London 2012-inspired zeal.

Among those who could be competing in Wales will be ParalympicsGB stars David Weir, Richard Whitehead and Welshman Aled Davies as well as the world’s fastest Paralympian, Jason Smyth from Ireland.

I believe Swansea, Wales is to host next years @paralympic European Champs. Bring it on! Should be a great championships.

— Jason Smyth (@smyth_jason) March 21, 2013

And because I’ll use any excuse to put a video of it here, let’s have another look at Richard Whitehead’s outrageous gold medal at London 2012:

BBC Sports Personality of the Year: vote David Weir

The importance, or otherwise, of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, is up for debate, particularly in a year of almost unprecedented British sporting success.

But I might as well make my pick. I think Alastair Cook is unlucky to miss out on a place in the shortlist of 12, although his big achievement was after the shortlist was announced. Having said that, though, I would have to choose an Olympian or Paralympian, which rules out Rory McIlroy.

Mo Farah and Jess Ennis have rightly been lauded for their remarkable success in August, but I am more inclined to someone who hasn’t been in the media spotlight all year anyway. For that somewhat illogical reason, two of the favourites, Bradley Wiggins and Andy Murray, are also ruled out of getting my vote.

I would hate to belittle the incredible success of Sir Chris Hoy, Ellie Simmonds and Ben Ainslie, but they have already had so much success their golds this time almost feel like par for the course. Nicola Adams is a real personality, true, but I don’t reckon she deserves the nod above the rest of the competition.

So my top three would be:

• 3rd: Katherine Grainger – a stalwart of British rowing for years, and one who had got so close before but never quite managed Olympic gold. This year she finally changed that.
• 2nd: Sarah Storey – a five-time Paralympic swimming gold medallist, she added four more cycling golds to her two from Beijing in London. She cantered to victory in all of her races over the various distances, making all of her events look almost embarrassingly easy
• 1st: David Weir – not just because he was the only one of the 12 I saw win over the summer, for two of his four gold medals in four events, in distances ranging from 800m to the marathon. He won the marathon despite confessing to feeling exhausted early on and visibly fading during the first lap or two. And most of all, perhaps Weir was the single athlete who allowed the British public to get as engaged with the Paralympics as much as they did with the Olympics (people were talking about him on the Tube in the same way they were Farah and Ennis).