HARRIS (GBR)

* Note to confused readers: for my last post from the Olympics and Paralympics before this becomes a proper travel blog about, you know, travel, I decided to use the 'flash quote' template which is the backbone of what the Olympic & Paralympic News Service produce, complete with capitalised names!

Men's T54 marathon

RIO DE JANEIRO - Comments from Joanne HARRIS (GBR) after the end of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games on Sunday.

Joanne HARRIS (GBR)

On how she feels right now:

"Knackered, mainly."

On what the Paralympic Games have been like:

"Incredible. I've spoken to such a wide range of athletes in five sports with a whole range of impairments and stories and hopes and dreams. I've spoken to established, experienced athletes with multiple Games and medals behind them, and to rising stars finding out what they can achieve for the first time.

"The atmosphere has been fun and supportive from all sides: the volunteers have helped each other, and the athletes have shown real sportsmanship and friendship which has been a privilege to see. The Brazilians properly got behind the Games and especially behind their own; the sheer volume of noise in the pool whenever the Brazilians were swimming, and particularly when Daniel DIAS won gold, was utterly deafening and exhilarating at once.

"It's a very different sort of Games from the Olympics but that doesn't make it any less competitive or any less exciting. It also doesn't make the athletic feats any less impressive."

Copacabana from the marathon tribunes

On her best Paralympic memories:

"Do I have to pick just one? I don't think I can. Here are a few though:

Interviewing GB gold medallist, canoeist Anne DICKINS

"When GB won three golds on the Lagoa, not once but twice, in both canoeing and rowing.

"Interviewing Ellie ROBINSON after she won the 50m butterfly S6. She was so very thrilled and shocked and it was lovely.

"Interviewing US swimmer Cortney JORDAN after she won silver in the 400m freestyle S7 because of the way she talked about her teammate McKenzie COAN, who got gold. They're best friends and she gave the impression she genuinely didn't mind being beaten by COAN. To be fair, COAN was also a fantastic person to interview, with a massive smile and brimming with enthusiasm.

"Meeting the Zimbabwe rowing team, who I talked about in an earlier blog, for their joy at being in Rio at all."

On her most random Paralympic memories:

"Having a selfie with the Danish flagbearer at the opening ceremony was odd but nice.

"Having my shoulder squeezed by Brazilian swimmer Phelipe RODRIGUES after what was probably the second of three interviews over the course of the week as I thanked him for the chat."

On why she is very proud to be British:

GBR LTAMix4+ - gold

"Officially one is supposed to be impartial when doing this job, but sometimes it's hard and I'm particularly bad at it. I love seeing the Brits winning stuff, and we won so very much in Rio. I covered 36 finals at the Lagoa (14 Olympic rowing, 12 Olympic canoeing, four Paralympic rowing, six Paralympic canoeing) and Britain won 10 gold medals in those events, plus three silvers and three bronzes. Which is pretty bloody impressive.


"I'm proud my country puts effort into the Games. It's a relatively small amount per capita and I think it matters. I'm proud that the Paralympians are supported in a similar way to the Olympians and that their achievements are praised just as much. I'm proud that our Paralympic broadcaster went to the effort of getting live coverage from places no other broadcaster touched.

"And as a journalist, I'm glad that our athletes will stop and talk even if they're disappointed with their performances while those from other countries rush by, sometimes even if they won gold."

On what the future holds:

"Tomorrow I pack my bags and head to Ilha Grande, which is an island fairly close to Rio which is known for being a beautiful place to chill out. There's walks and beaches and waterfalls. After that, Paraty (pretty much ditto, except it's not an island), then Sao Paulo, then Iguacu Falls, before I fly to Peru and get confused about which language I don't understand and can't speak." 

On who she'd like to thank:

"Working in Rio has been an amazing experience and it was great to share it with my ONS and PNS colleagues who are all superb, as well as various Press Ops team members at rather a lot of venues, but especially Lagoa. And thanks to Lisa for being a great roommate during the Olympics."

ONS/PNS jh

The joy of the Paralympic Games

Today is the first day of the Paralympic Games. Last night I was fortunate enough to be one of the team collecting flash quotes from the flagbearers before the opening ceremony, easily one of the most fun things I've done so far.

There was such an infectious mood among the athletes, even though they had a long wait - the first countries, at the start of the alphabet, started arriving at about 4pm and they started moving out about 6pm. Such a lot of diversity (of all types) in one place, and everyone trying to get selfies of themselves with other people from other countries, catching up with friends, and wreathed with smiles. There was a samba troupe moving around to keep everyone entertained, complete with several dancers and musicians with disabilities, which went down well.

My favourite interview was probably Annika Lykke Dalskov Risum from Denmark, a four-time Paralympic medallist in her third Games, who was so excited and happy and willing to talk and then wanted a selfie with me!

Once we'd collected enough quotes we went and watched the ceremony. The parade of nations was a bit long - the music a little repetitive and the gaps between countries too big - but once they got back to the ceremony part it rattled along nicely with beautiful choreography and design celebrating different types of disability. My favourite bit was where they brought pictograms to life by pushing them through giant cages, while the stage was turned into giant basketball courts, running tracks and so on with lights. Incredibly clever and effective.

It was also incredibly emotional. The Paralympic flag was carried in by a group of children and their fathers wearing special boots created by a Brazilian, which allow disabled children to walk supported by an adult. The kids were loving it and the Paralympic athletes they were walking past were loving it and I suspect half the crowd was somewhat tearful.

Then as the torch was being carried around the stadium it started to rain, and former runner Marcia Malsar fell and dropped the torch. But she got up again and to huge cheers and a standing ovation made it, solo, to the handover point.

Then the flame was lit, amid the pouring rain, and the Games officially began.

In the past few days I've been speaking to athletes in the three sports I have responsibility for - rowing, canoe sprints and sailing. It's been incredible listening to their stories. Some are at their first Paralympics and a few only took up their sports a short time ago; others have spent their lives pursuing elite sport, particularly Irish sailor John Twomey who is here at his eleventh Paralympics (six discus, including gold in Seoul; two where he also did table-tennis; and now five as a sailor).

I spoke to the Zimbabwean coxed four, who have the most basic of training facilities back home and whose effervescent coach Rachel Davis has supported them financially as well as on a sporting basis. I met GB rower Laurence Whiteley, who got bone cancer aged 14 and is one of just two survivors from his treatment group of 14 in Newcastle. I spoke to canoeist Curtis McGrath, who had his legs blown off by an IED in Afghanistan only days before the London 2012 Paralympics started and made a promise to his mates stretchering him away that they'd see him compete at a Paralympics - some of them will be in Rio.

I had a chat to Anke Molkenthin, who at 54 is competing in two sports in Rio (rowing and canoeing). She was diagnosed with a congenital nerve disorder in the 1980s and even with only 80 per cent of nerve function ran ultra-marathons through to the end of the 1990s. I met the fantastically fun Aussie sailing duo of Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch; during their training every day Fitzgibbon, who has quadriplegia, has to pass the jetty which he fell off in 1997. Yesterday I met Kenyan rower Itaken Kipelian, who got polio aged five and was taken away from his Masai family by a missionary and educated. Now he's supporting four of his brothers through school and he says his life has been a miracle.

The atmosphere is subtly different from the Olympics. Everyone wants to win just as much but I think there's an even greater camaraderie between competitors. And in my sports in particular, I get the impression that the athletes feel by participating they achieve real freedom which they don't always have on land. Sport makes a tangible difference to these athletes' lives and I'm looking forward to covering their achievements in the next 11 days.