Every 4 years I find myself tending to ignore the main olympic's more and more then find myself engrossed in the Para's afterward.
Huge respect to those buggers who put a dent in what I have to whine about for my lot in life.
One thing that has always had me curious was the different categories, heres some info if you're interested.
www.abc.net.au/news/2008-09-03/paralympics-categories-explained/497968?site=/paralympics/2008
Back to the ABC
Great to watch, thought I was on my own thinking like that Elmo
Like the latest handle they have given themselves,
"The Super Humans" competing in the games 
Eagles are getting floged,so back to ABC2 then
Watched some last night. More inspirational than the Olympics. Courage at its best!!!
definitely deserves mainstream tv coverage! i mean foxtel had 8 dedicated channels for the main Olympics.. why not keep one or two channels at least for this??
The stuff Ive seen on ABC has been great! I couldn't believe that Goal Ball game. and blind running where they have a 'guide' run with them! crazy stuff!
Aussies are doing awesome too which is great!
Glad you guys are getting coverage over there. The Americans managed to condense the whole of the Beijing Paralympics down to a 2hour show!
Australia is still 2nd in the medal table behind China which is some going as the disabled population of China isn't far off double the population of Australia
Some of the stories about the athletes is stirring stuff - one team trained using lorry steering wheels bolted onto their wheelchair wheels because they couldn't afford proper racing chairs Plus we've nicked Adam Hills off you for his take on the days proceedings - which has been brilliant
Cheers Col
Football: Seven-a-side (for cerebral palsy athletes)
wow...that would be a challenging event.
we watched a race last night where this english guy after a " crappy " start came flying through on his springs .It was incredible to watch he was litterally flying what ther was of his legs and springs were whirring .
awesome awesome awesome ,their smiles and good sportsmanship continue to inspire. far too little mainstream coverage .these are the people we should encourage our kids to see as role models , not overpaid boofheads and crybabies who takr themselves too seriously.
well it does not need main stream coverage as i love watching it without karl and all the adds.
on the athletes...well nobody has blamed twitter,nobody is sad.. all i see is determination that i could only dream of and a stoke that has made my eyes wet more than once.
get rid of the nikeaddidasspeedopumaetcetc olympics,as the para guys have got the true essence and tradition of the olympic movement pretty much sorted
Much more enjoyable and less hyped up BS than what we were seeing a few weeks ago.
Inspirational. My squids are fascinated and loving it. Also a great lesson for them to overcome things in life.
Great commentary and again more enjoyable and less hyped up BS than what we were seeing a few weeks ago.
Embarrassing that 9 and co spend so much to give so little of substance then fark orf with no interest in Paralympics. Their stoopid mistake IMO.
+1 for the positive comments.
These guys and girls have the right attitude - heard Kurt Fearnley being interviewed after finishing back in the field in a race he was hoping to win "I'm dissappointed, but it's not the worst thing to even happen to me. I'll get up tomorrow and have another go".
Makes the Missile etc look pretty soft.
Absolutely pathetic that this doesn't get on mainstream TV, although that could change with all the good stories coming through this time around.
Nah - better to stick with Aunty and in it's current format.
Ch 9 etc have a real knack for turning GOLD into horse sh!te.
It ain't broke - in fact it's humming - so don't fk it IMO.
Since when is the ABC not mainstream tv...was that comment for real?
The ABC coverage is so far ahead of channel 9 or 7's efforts it's not even funny. Laurence, Steph and co. on the panel show are hilarious, their interviews are great and there isn't a friggen add every two minutes. I think the ABC should be massively commended for showing a considerable amount of coverage, far more than there has been in previous years' and far more than in most countries from all reports.
As almost everyone has mentioned the athletes attitudes are far better, which I guess comes from facing day to day life as someone with a disability, no whinging, all heart, it's all purely about the sport etc, not about who can pickup the next Nike contract or FHM cover shoot...and frankly it's bloody refreshing.
Edit: As for chan 9's record of turning gold into horse..., Topgear anyone hahaha. That rated off the charts on SBS, queue chan9 getting the gig, increase the length to 1.5hr, add 30min more adds...and....the ratings fall by 75%....they have a long history of this sort of caper.
Yeah I seem to have misinterpreted your comment there, apologies...I still disagree that the ABC isn't mainstream media/tv though. You are right, far too little coverage on the 'lowest common denominator' channels of 7,9...too much reality TV and general trash, shame really as some of these stories really need to be told to your average Aussie couch potato :)
I've been watching a fair bit lately. I think that the light hearted/comical presenters also make it more enjoyable too.
