Paralympic Games

[Dark Beanie]

Australia has started the games well with 6 gold medals on the first day of competition. 2 golds in track cycling and 4 in the pool.

More chances for medals in swimming & cycling today.

The Steelers - wheelchair rugby aka murder ball - lost their first match which puts them in a little bit of bother to qualify for the finals.

The Gliders - womens wheelchair basketball - also lost their 1st game.

[Donny]

I was in training for the '64 Para Games in Tokyo, in multiple events - Wheelchair Basketball, Table Tennis, Archery and Javelin. It's all a bit fuzzy, being 57 years ago.

I was in the Austin Hospital and we had training sessions, nearly every day, and individual workouts in the gym.

However, it was early days for Para games and I was ruled out because of my mobility, in that I could lean forward in the wheelchair. These days, there are way more categories.

Had they been in place then, I could well have helped Dawn Fraser pinch the flag from Hirohito's palace.

[Dark Beanie]

So many categories it can be hard to understand when watching.
It's good when the commentator/s give a brief explanation before or during the event.

Prior to the womens basketball - Australia vs Germany - channel 7 had a graphic presentation which explained the differing no. of points for each player and the matching level of ability. Unfortunately the Gliders lost by 19 points, Germany being one of the top ranked teams.

Here is an explanation of the categories:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-24/what-are-the-classifications-for-the-tokyo-paralympics-/100378012

Back to the games.
Australia sits fifth on the ladder with seven gold, four silver and eight bronze for a total of 19 medals.

No matter the level of ability, Aussies do well in the pool.
Quite a few Aussies qualified for swimming finals after this mornings heats.

Despite losing 2 games in the preliminary rounds, the Steelers play the USA in the semi finals of the wheelchair rugby today.

The Rollers have won their first 2 games and are currently playing Germany in the mens wheelchair basketball. The Gliders play Great Britain today.

Schedules and updated results here:

https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/paralympic-games/en/results/wheelchair-basketball/paralympic-schedule-and-results.htm