I and our entire team, the Mirage group, spent almost two weeks in Sochi, when the Olympiad was held there. Now we have returned to Moscow, but life in the Olympic capital does not stop, because the Paralympiad starts soon. This is an event deserving no less, but even more attention! Paralympics will be held from March 7 to 16.
These games are new enough, they have a couple of dozen years old, but every year they are gaining all the big and big turnover. Opening and closing will be held at the same Fisht stadium, competitions will be held on the same tracks and arons. It is expected that Paralympiad 2014 will be a record! More than one and a half thousand athletes and team members. About fifty countries, 72 sets of awards. 5 sports. In addition, a new discipline will be presented - a para-snowboard.
I will note that Paralympic games in China, who have passed in 2008, have greatly affected the attitude towards people with disabilities in the country as a whole. I really hope that this will happen to us. What to say about all Russia, if even the streets and roads in Moscow are not equipped in order to move on them on the wheelchair, for example.
We were fortunate enough to see both the opening and closure of the Olympiad and major competitions, including I witnessed the triumph of our figure skaters. More young girls Julia Lipnitskaya and Adeline Sotnitskaya, both already Olympic champion. We are proud of them! They are our future! Because of the work I had to return to Moscow earlier than I would like. I really wanted to support our paralympics, athletes who are winners doubly. They had not only to go through the same way that he was passed by each athlete who spent in Sochi a few days earlier, they had to overcome the situation in which their lives put.
For incomprehensible reasons, attention to the Paralympics we have much less than just the Olympics. The names of the athletes we do not know. Do not follow competitions so actively. There is no such number of discussions. I really want to call all the audience and sports fans to love, respect and follow the successes and these athletes too! It is necessary to increase the number of social advertising and do so that society is not afraid to speak these topics. I know what I'm talking about. After all, I still urge without fear to talk about adoption, and now I would like to raise the topic of Paralympiad. I know from friends that from March 2 in the GUMU will be held the exhibition "Paralympic movement", where photos, statements of athletes will be presented. And we will be shown "wrong" of this world - new products that make life easier for both paralympians and just people with disabilities around the world! The only company in the world that creates ottobock prostheses is the organizer of this exhibition. They are the global partner of the Paralympic Movement. With their help, many people in every sense of this word got on their feet, found a new life and found meaning in it! And the fact that the exhibition can be familiar with the stories of concrete people, I was particularly interested. Here, for example, one of these stories. Mark Viland: "I am a passionate fan of motorsport and repeatedly observed Alex in the Earthly, which participates in the racing Indicar in Australia. I was deeply upset, having learned about the tragic incident, as a result of which Alex lost both Goney, and thought that his sporting career had an end. Soon after his recovery, Alex began to act as a athlete-paralympic. He trained with incredible perseverance, not allowing the thoughts that disabilities could be a hindrance towards sports advances. In 2012, triumph was waiting for him in London - he won, winning 2 gold medals in races on para-bicycles. It was a unique feeling - to see Alex again participates in competitions and defeats! "
At the last Olympiad, which was held in 2010 in Vancouver, our paralympuses won such a number of awards that are comparable to the success of the Russian Olympic team this year. 12 gold, 16 silver and 10 bronze awards. Total 38 medals and second place in the overall standings! Athlete Cyril Mikhailov won three gold (biathlon, ski racing 20 km, relay) and silver in ski racing 10 km. Anna Burmistric Two Gold: Ski Racing for 15 km, biathlon for 3 km and silver in biathlon by 12.5 km. An amazing athlete - Irek Zaripov. See ourselves, in the Paralympic game × 2010, he received intake × 4 gold metals and one silver! They are great athletes! Great people! I bow to their courage!