Paralympics opening ceremony on NBC Sports now.
The US team has 35 veterans or active military. Damn.
There's a Belgian athlete who plans to commit suicide/euthanasia after the games. Unbelievable story.
The Paralympic opening ceremonies were very interesting.
One of the feature performances was an American Dancing with the Stars runner up with two prosthetic legs wearing a dress made with a 3D printer dancing with a Kuka arm robot to represent the merging of humans with technology.
The Paralympic flag was carried into the stadium by 8 Brazilian children who participate in a program that helps paraplegic kids play soccer with the aid of special boots. They wore each shoes connected the shoes of a man which allowed them to "walk" through the stadium.
The torch was lit by a swimmer in a wheelchair. The cauldron was at the top of a flight of stairs. He paused and the stairs opened up to become a ramp.
Very well done. Very inspiring. Beautiful. I recommend watching it.
Both commentators seemed very knowledge about Paralympic sports and the athletes as well. It was very insightful.
So many of the adaptations make a ton of sense. For example, weightlifting is just bench press. Everybody with arms competes together. No clue why the bench isn't in the Olympics.
One point they made was that the Paralympics used to be more for former athletes who had sustained some injury. Now children with various disabilities are growing up training to be paralympians and are actively learning from role models in the sport.
There's afternoon, evening, and late night coverage on NBC Sports. I'll be checking it out.
Saw that too. Been watching tonight's events. Fascinating how they do the swimming relays to even out the disabilities. The training it takes between the visually impaired runners and their guides is incredible. They're sprinting strides to stride.
Saw that too. Been watching tonight's events. Fascinating how they do the swimming relays to even out the disabilities. The training it takes between the visually impaired runners and their guides is incredible. They're sprinting strides to stride.
Watching some Paralympics now for the first time. Iranian dude just bench pressed 310 kg (683 lbs)