Big Read
Blake hopes the force will be with him at London 2012
By Katy Anderson
David Rudisha, the 800-metre world record holder, is Paul Blake's athletics inspiration. That's because he's run 1min 41.01sec, right? Well...not entirely, because IPC world 400m champion Blake – an 800m world record holder in his own right and a world silver medallist over 800m and 1500m – respects Rudisha as much, if not more, for his 45.50 personal best for the one-lap event.
Blake is now working to reduce his own 400m time in a bid to succeed over 400m and 800m at this year's London 2012 Paralympic Games: "From a practical perspective I think it's better for me to focus on the 400m and the 800m rather than mixing in the 1500m," he says. "I find it quite difficult to balance between three events because different sessions (speed versus endurance) need different focus and recovery."
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Sailing stars Rickham and Birrell are ready for the biggest year of their lives
By Tom Degun
As we enter the year of 2012, the eyes of the world's elite disability sporting talent are understandably fixed on August 29 to September 9, the date when the London Paralympic Games will captivate the globe.Before those Games take place, though, there is the small matter of getting to them in the best possible shape and for many of Britain's top Paralympic sailors that means competing the 2012 International Association for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) World Championships.
This year the competition will take place at the picturesque Laishley Park Marina in Florida and for Alexandra Rickham, one of Britain's top London 2012 medal prospects, the competition is all about getting ready for the Paralympic sailing event on the waters of Weymouth Bay.
Why sport, not disability, must be the prime focus of the London 2012 Paralympics
By Tim HollingsworthAbraham Lincoln once said: "Public se
ntiment is everything. With it nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed." That's a pretty good message for anyone thinking now about how to approach using the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in order to raise the profile of issues or affect change.It certainly came to mind for me and many of my colleagues last weekend, when the disability charity Scope published research into public attitudes to the London Paralympic Games. The claims made suggested there was genuine concern that the Games would not provide the right platform for disabled people either to be involved, engaged or inspired. From that was extrapolated a view that scrapping a separate games in favour of combining with the Olympics was preferable – not a view I agree with at all.
What the survey did highlight was the fact that disability groups up and down the country will undoubtedly see 2012 as an opportunity to further their aims for equality and inclusion. I should absolutely state that this is an ambition that the British Paralympic Association (BPA) completely shares. The argument I have is about messaging and focus, not ambition. To go back to Lincoln's dictum, we need to make sure that any arguments put forward can capture public sentiment.
The remarkable Baroness Grey-Thompson could teach Sepp Blatter a thing or two
By Alan Hubbard
I am not sure if Tanni Grey-Thompson has ever met Sepp Blatter – or even desires to do so – but I would like to be the proverbial fly on the wall should they ever have a conversation which embraces the FIFA poobah's growing list of apparent prejudices.Slippery Sepp – hard to say whether he or the Houdini of Twickenham, Rob Andrew, has the thicker coating of Teflon – is not unfamiliar with isms.
His current misadventure with racism was famously preceded by a chauvinistic flirtation with sexism when he suggested that women's football would be more aesthetically appealing if players wore kit that revealed rather more flesh ("tighter shorts and low cut shirts"). As befits a bloke who once rejoiced in the role of President of the Society for the Preservation of the Suspender.
Mosher prepared for uphill task to get para-snowboarding in the Games
By Mike Rowbottom
When a 15-year-old adaptive snowboarder, Zach Beaumont, was chosen to light the torch at BC Place during the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games in Vancouver (pictured, below), it showcased a sport with a swiftly growing following in Canada - and one with commensurately growing hopes of inclusion at the next Paralympics in Sochi 2014.
When a 15-year-old adaptive snowboarder, Zach Beaumont, was chosen to light the torch at BC Place during the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games in Vancouver (pictured, below), it showcased a sport with a swiftly growing following in Canada - and one with commensurately growing hopes of inclusion at the next Paralympics in Sochi 2014.At the other end of the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics, the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) chief executive, Xavier Gonzalez, acknowledged interest in additional events for Sochi 2014 and said he expected to receive submissions from groups championing adaptive snowboarding, standing hockey, bobsleigh and luge, and long-track speed skating.
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Paul Blake's father played Greedo in the Oscar-winning film Star Wars but his real hero is David Rudisha, Kenya's world 800 metres record holder, who he hopes will inspire him to glory at London 2012, as Katy Anderson reports 
