Hello all!
And welcome to the second half of the Beijing Winter Paralympics 2022 and its accompanying cross stitch finishes.
The first five days were thoroughly enjoyable to watch and the second five days didn't disappoint either.
Sounds like Tiff's having great fun with her dragons whilst watching the action too!
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But first a tangent...
Jo asked me if the competitors in the Paralympics had just physical disabilities or if there were any with learning disabilities.
The answer, to the best of my knowledge, is that there are no Winter Paralympians with learning disabilities but that there were a handful in the Summer Paralympics competing in athletics, swimming and table tennis.
The reason they are generally excluded is because of the Spanish Paralympic 2000 basketball team faking their learning disabilities. After that there was a ban on people with learning disabilities, and it was only in 2012 that they were allowed back into the three events above.
With the world becoming more accepting about integrating everyone into society, and huge emphasis on the Olympic motto 'Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together' maybe there will be changes come Paris 2024 and Milano/Cortina 2026.
Alternatively, in the same way that there is a very understated Deaflympics (did you know there was an Olympics for deaf people?) maybe there will one day be a Learning Disability Olympics?
Tiff - the Deaflympics is on between 1st-15th May 2022 - anything planned???!!!
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Back to the Winter Paralympics...
Day 6 - Wednesday 9th March
Today's main focus was the ski sprint races over a course of about 1km for visually impaired athletes and about 1.5km for seated and standing competitors. Having watched some of the cross-country skiing and biathlon, I was surprised to see a lot of the same athletes competing in the sprint events. In athletics, you don't see many runners who compete in the sprints also competing in the longer distance events (and certainly not stopping off at regular intervals to do some shooting!) but in these events it's almost the norm.
Finish of the day:
Dragon 10 by StitchItPicasso
Stitched on 16ct Sunshine over dyed aida with ThreadworX 11051 Golden Leaves
Started - 29th August 2021
Finished - 9th March 2022
Total stitching time - 10 hours 10 minutes
Day 7 - Thursday 10th March
Today's coverage was mostly of the giant slalom. The snow still continues to take out a fair number of skiers, and not just those with less experience. You have to feel sorry for those competitors whose race is over within a few seconds of starting, but that's the risk of alpine snow sports.
Finish of the day:
Stitched on 16ct Pixie Pink over dyed aida with ThreadworX 1005 Cherries
Started - 30th August 2021
Finished - 10th March 2022
Total stitching time - 7 hours 40 minutes
Day 8 - Friday 11th March
Today's must watch event was the snowboard slalom. This wasn't in the Winter Olympics so it a was great to see an event exclusively for Paralympians. I admit it did get a little tedious watching snowboarder after snowboarder winding their way down a wiggly track, but then that's the sport!
Finish of the day:
Stitched on 16ct Tin over dyed aida with ThreadworX 1022 Rainstorm
Started - 31st August 2021
Finished - 11th March 2022
Total stitching time - 7 hours 30 minutes
Day 9 - Saturday 12th March
Most of the action today involved the women's slalom skiing races and curling. Up until now I haven't mentioned the curling. Two things to note about para curling are how much quieter it is without the sweepers and how you get much more of an idea about the way the stones actually curl. In some ways you could argue it's harder to play as each curler has only their initial push to rely on, but I'd say it's much more 'honest'.
Great Britain were criticised during the event for their banter being unsportsmanlike, but two thing annoyed me more - the constant chewing of gum by a few competitors and the fist bumps or high-fives certain teams did after EVERY SINGLE STONE. I know it's teamwork but, come on. Luckily, because I record all of the action, I watched most of the curling at double speed, thus speeding up the games and avoiding the commentary (the stones speak for themselves really). And it was only on watching a condensed version of the final in the round-up show that the noise of the Chinese team, especially the screeching woman, was evident. If GB were criticised for their banter, then surely China should have been criticised for their volume.
Finish of the day:
Stitched on 16ct Sweet Potato over dyed aida with ThreadworX 10041 Deep Coral
Started - 1st September 2021
Finished - 12th March 2022
Total stitching time - 6 hours 30 minutes
Day 10 - Sunday 13th March
Today's must watch sport was the 4x2.5km skiing relays. These involved teams of mixed-disability athletes competing against one another, meaning there were sitting, standing and visually impaired skiers all on the course at the same time. There are rules in place to ensure fairness across the teams but most still depends on the ability of each athlete. I believe (other than ice hockey and curling) this was the only team event in the Paralympics. Maybe there will be more next time as team events are so much fun to watch!
And then, of course, there was the closing ceremony, as beautiful as all the other ceremonies seen in Beijing. From the glimpses of Milano/Cortina it looks like there's a lot to look forward to in 2026! :)
Finish of the day:
Stitched on 16ct Clover over dyed aida with ThreadworX 11611 Tropical
Started - 2nd September 2021
Finished - 13th March 2022
Total stitching time - 14 hours 30 minutes
So that's the end of the Paralympics for another four years.
Final comments - China finished top of the medal table with 61 medals, which in a way is not surprising given that it was their home games. However, when it is considered that in all previous Paralympics they had only ever won one medal - curling gold in 2018 - it becomes clear how, since being awarded the games in 2015, they undertook a massive Para programme, recruiting top coaches from around the world and seeking the best talent. It obviously worked, but I hope this investment continues and Chinese para athletes are not spat out now that the games are over. Guess we'll see in 2026.
As for my stitching, as you have seen I successfully finished all 10 of the dragons I had set out to finish. Some of them are already in the process of being FFOd, and hopefully they'll all be ready by 10th April for the next FFG SAL as I'm excited to show something completely different!
Take care,
Rachel x
