The Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games begins Wednesday, August 29, 2012, and ends Sunday, September 9, 2012.

www.London2012.com

 'The Paralympic Torch

During the 24 hour Paralympic Torch Relay, the five team members will each carry their own Torch, passing the Flame between one another, as they complete their section of the  Relay. The Torch has been created to represent modernity and innovation, with a mirrored finish reflecting the light of the Flame and teams of Torchbearers that carry it.
On Wednesday 22 August, with just one week to go to the Games, four Flames will be lit at the summit of the highest peaks of the four UK nations on Wednesday 22 August.
Groups of disabled and non-disabled Scouts will ascend Scafell Pike (England), Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa (Wales), Ben Nevis (Scotland) and Slieve Donard (Northern Ireland) where they will use the traditional technique of rubbing flint to create sparks and kindle a flame.
Sebastian Coe, Chair of LOCOG, said: ‘By creating the four Flames through human endeavour at the four highest peaks in the UK we will ensure that the spirit of each home nation is represented in the Paralympic Flame.’
The Flames will then be transferred to each nation’s capital city where they will each become the focus for a day of Paralympic celebrations. On Tuesday 28 August the Flames will be united in Stoke Mandeville – the spiritual home of the Paralympic Movement – to create the London 2012 Paralympic Flame.
At 8pm that evening, the Paralympic Flame will embark on its 24-hour Relay, with 116 teams of five Torchbearers set to carry the Flame on its journey to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford."

Note from dc: This photo makes a great screensaver!!

Photo post ~ no words ~ could be your favourite!!

Halt! Who goes there?

A very quiet day ~ just the day before.

No wind, no rain; just lovely stars above. Crash!
No telephone, no television, no internet for four days. 
With that, no Olympic Closing Ceremony.

Still we had a great time with everyone! 

Hope you enjoyed our silly posts!

Most sincerely,

The "dcrelief Olympic News Crew"

News Flash!

@ 2 a.m., my beloved tree took a dive across the front yard! It's the tree in the very middle of the photo. Wow! I'm really grateful it had more limbs on the side toward the street than towards the house. All the way across the yard, across the street and into my neighbor's yard and power lines... it crashed.

Unfortunately I did not have enough hot dogs and hamburgers to treat everyone who came.

These people deserve gold medals for their promptness and service. Thank you.
The local police department.
The local energy dept.
The local cable service
The local telephone service
The local city dispatch service
The local tree cutters union # 74

Okay, so I'm being nice... and already wondering about that bill. Hmm?

no mystery here

Could it be...

...modern day blimps?

Almost... Time to say... la-la-la

Almost... time to say goodbye...
...but first there's the weekend events to drive us wild!

My four years of my life, and (&^%) years of Dixie's life... and neither of us know the words to the song for the Olympic closing ceremony. Do you know the real lyrics to this song?
We are not addressing those who speak Italian; you already know! We are addressing those who would like to learn it. Then you can sing along come this Sunday. Unfortunately that's closing time... we'll get to that subject later. Enjoy!

~ Alistair Cookie

Goal tending

Oh why haven't I thrown around the total golds, silvers and bronzes of the US team? Where is that old time Yank arrogance? Come on you know... every red bloodied American wants  to beat everyone! It's not that I'm disinterested in medals; I find it meddlesome to worry about  the count. My approach has been very different.

The Olympic experience is so large, yet many countries do not attend for various reasons. Still there is no reason why we cannot cheer on the greatest athletes sent to challenge themselves. Yes, that is their greatest challenge. Only 'the rule' and 'corporate thug-bunnies' make it obscene. My goal has been to applaud every person who crosses a finish line, a balance beam,  a judo throw, a jumping horse, a vollied ball, and many, many other accomplishments.  After all I am here for the spectator's table seat. What these athlete's bring to the table is hard work  and desire. Most are grateful to qualify to attend. Should, couldn't, wouldn't I be too? I think so.

For this post I thank the host for the most fun, so far!!

Lost narrator; 27 inches tall; 37 pounds...

The previous message we received from Alistair Cookie, esquire and great narrator, was from the Equestrian Event. He rubbed elbows with the 'Royals,' hob-nobbed with the Rolling Stones, got the autograph of Sir Paul McCartney, and was dazzled by the tiny grand-daughter the of Olympic Ceremony's Director.

His latest dispatch was delivered by a wayward pizza-guy who road a glorious bike, wore a spectacular helmet, and displayed "GBR" on a white placard pinned to his chest. Like a boomerang in Australia, he flipped a smallish envelope into the air, turning seven times and lightly touching down upon the ground. What now? 

Dear dcrelief Olympic Reporting Team:

My dear tiny friend has invited me to the mall. Not that I enjoy window shopping but she promises it to be more exciting that the 88th ride of "The London Eye." Whatever it is, it is free, and that's for me! Besides she has cookies... I think I'm in love.

Oh well, if you've seen one mall you've probably seen them all. I'll let you should I come across any sales. Got to go, our bikes are here. Must be a big mall if it requires a bike to get around. Ta-ta & toodles. ~Al.

Can't wait to hear how the shopping went!(smile) Seriously, have the London stores and businesses been busy there? I'm hoping it boosts the economy!

Full House

Though I wasn't schooled in all of the athletic skills that occurred here, I found myself amazed by the sheer determination of the competitors. And still there are continuing daily. I hope some of my blog pals got to see some of the events; it would be nice to have some inside knowledge.

Meanwhile, Alistair is heaps in love; we may never see him until the closing, if even then. The cameraman... I believe I've informed you of his taking up and off with the Brazilian Volleyball Team; we're reasonably sure it was the women's team.

And me? So many things to see... I'll let the pictures explain what I'm ignorant of.(smile).

Is it just me, or does this photo resemble a whale's mouth about to swallow the viewers? And a giant blowhole. I think I must be tired or daft. What do you see?

Winlock & Mandeville

According to 'legend' they came from the last girder placed in the Olympic Stadium. They represent two tiny drops of steel. Is that for real? 2012's mascots for the London Olympics and Para-Olympics.

Okay.

The flying squirrel

Oh wow!

Ring around the moon

A magnificent moon peers through the Olympic rings on Friday, August 03, 2012.

A new sport category...

As if James Bond and HRH could be topped?
What say ye, England?

Person of Interest

LONDON (AP) — The oldest 100-meter Olympic champion is back in London for the games — only this time as a celebrated athlete, not a scrawny kid from Cleveland who botched the hurdles only to win the gold in 1948. William Harrison "Bones" Dillard (born July 8, 1923) is a American former track and field athlete.

Harrison Dillard, 89, was honored at Britain’s Foreign Office where the 1948 torch from those London games is on display.

“It’s heavy!” the man, also known as ‘Bones’ because of his lanky youthful appearance, said as he held the silver torch.

As a world record holder, all eyes were on Dillard in 1948 to win the 110-meter hurdles. But when the day came, the American knocked down several hurdles and failed to finish the race.

He tried again in the 100-meter dash, winning in 10.3 seconds — a surprise to his teammate and favorite Barney Ewell, who did a premature victory dance thinking he had actually won.*

Four years after London, Dillard went on to win the 100-meter hurdles in Helsinki.

“That’s one of the beauties of the Olympic Games, that they occur every four years,” Dillard told The Associated Press. “The athlete who fails in the first, assuming that he can maintain the necessary physical ability plus the emotional and mental ability, has a chance to redeem him or herself. I certainly had that good fortune.”

Olympic Games
Gold 1948 London 100 m
Gold 1948 London 4x100 m relay
Gold 1952 Helsinki 110 m hurdles
Gold 1952 Helsinki 4x100 m relay

*Side note: "The 1948 games were the first time that Olympic judges had the benefit of using photo finish technology, which helps the naked eye in determining who crossed the finish line first."

~from your iconic avatar...

Pony Tails

Hello! Alistair Cookie, here.

Tally-ho, off we go! (Do they really say that stuff in England?) Pip-Pippa, no, that's the sister-in-law to Prince William... Duke William... Duke Ellington? (Being four years old has it's problems; largely I'm behind in history, etcetera, ad nauseam.)

So the Equestrian Competition was great, mostly. Our cameraman was at the volleyball park again and so purchased this photo. But  it is one amazing shot! (I thought only the cow jumped over the moon... silly me.) My summation of the event: lots of jumping; lots of turnarounds; lots of high stepping; lots of guard rails knocked off;  lots of 'OH NO!' and then, I got busy.

Over to my left lay a large field of lovely flowers; their scent rising up into my tiny nostrils. Delicate blossoms and amongst them a smallish creature, not unlike myself. We're off to ride The London Eye. Horses? What horses? All I see are pony tails. Tally-ho, Pippa!

London's Mayor, falling down

Musical interlude from the Olympics

A play is afoot

Dixie here, introducing Mr. Austin Playfoot. He was chosen as torch-bearer for the 1948 Olympic games. Originally scheduled for 1944, they were postponed due to the war. Mr. Playfoot at that time was a member of the Royal Air Force (RAF)... and took leave to answer the invitation sent from the Olympic Committee. How ironic and yet lovely, that he was chosen to relight the Olympic Cauldron for 2012. Here are some notes from The Daily Mail.


[["Although it didn't die by accident, the London 2012 Olympic flame had to be extinguished for security reasons on Sunday evening.

By tradition, the Olympic flame must be kept burning inside its cauldron for the duration of the games, but technicians had to put it out while they moved the vessel to a new location inside London's Olympic stadium, the Daily Mail reports.

Before cutting the gas, torch bearer Austin Playfoot transferred the flame to an Olympic torch. Playfoot, who was a torch bearer for the games in 2012 and 1948, re-lit the flame from a cherry picker once the cauldron was moved.

The cauldron now burns in the southern end of the stadium — meaning that the Olympic flame is still not available to the many visitors who lack tickets to the Olympic Stadium.]]

"'When I ran with the Olympic Flame in Guildford I never thought I would get this close to the Cauldron," Playfoot says in The Daily Mail. "It brought me to tears when it lit up."


Mr. Austin Playfoot, a person of interest, with some 64 years between the two lighting-s and it would seem to have the same warm appeal. Congratulations of another round well done.

Alistair does The Mall

The spectacular Mall at Buckingham Palace! One of my favorite thingss to do is get on my tryke and go! However for this event you had to compete while on two wheels; I'm not quite there but it didn't squelch my excitement.

How do they stay balanced? How do they keep from falling or knocking into each other? Maybe that's what Mum means when she says, "Experience makes the man." No matter, I'll just ride along and keep out of their way!