The great joy for me was going to the Olympic Park for the first and only time on the last Wednesday with a £5 Day Pass. That included a full Travel Card for Zones 1-9. This was only obtained after days of battling with the ticketing web site. (Google 'usabilityhell' for a description of the 'not fit for purpose' web site put up by Live Nation / Ticketmaster) Anyway it was supposed to be a ticket for 7-a-side football by guys with CP.

But what really made the day for me was in the afternoon and evening seeing THREE wheelchair rugby or 'murderball' matches in the enormous basket ball stadium. The teams included Nederlands, US, Japan, Canada, Australia and UK. I forget now who played who though. A few of the teams even had women players. All were tough and uncompromising. It was less tactical than wheelchair basketball. No prisoners were taken. It was like watching fairground dodgems with the brutality of ice hockey.

The opposing guys - strapped into their chairs - crashed together so many times, some tipping right over and then waiting to be rescued. Pit stops to change wheels were equally frequent.

The photos in the media were also impressive.

That's what made the Paralympics so interesting. There were many unknown or unexpected sports, all usually ignored by the media, and no over-paid prima-donnas.

But now its all over, and the media has reverted back to type of predominantly reporting on the likes of premier soccer 'stars,' and s*d any reports of disabled sports.

P.S. I feel sorry you guys in the States missed out on so much of the live transmission. But YouTube has a full set of Channel 4 broadcasts. Maybe use ExpatShield to view these from overseas. You can download the FLV files using YouTube Downloader etc.