Today, it will be a short update. The change of schedules, the sports emotions and the nice evening with a friend overwhelmed me.
I will start with the best news – Bulgaria has a silver medal tonight won by Stela Eneva in Discus Throw F58. Excellent performance! 2 out of 8 athletes already have medals. We are proud with these guys!
I visited today the Equestrian at Greenwich park. In Paralympics there in only one style of horse riding competition – it it dressage. In other words – dancing with horses. There is a special music going on and the horse managed by the rider walks and dances on the floor. The performance is measured in several categories – rhythm, grace, timing. I watched the most disabled class of athletes. The winner of course was from Team GB – Sophie Christiansen who is suffering from cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair all the time. There was a quite mixture of feelings when watching it – a great satisfaction when seeing the joy and happiness that this lady experiences, a great respect to the will and determination. But still I can not overcome the pity and sympathy that I feel while watching such competitions. Congratulations for all rides at the Greenwich park. It is amazing what a contact they have created with the horses, how they balance and manage these extremely beautiful creatures.
I was discussing the rules, criteria for evaluation, etc. with two ladies sitting next to me. Then the ladies turned around and started discussing the Paralympics with a man sitting behind me. I turned around and saw the badge – the UK minister of Sports and Olympics Hugh Robertson. He shared that he is extremely satisfied by the games and proud that it is not only arena given to disabled athletes to demonstrate their skills, these are already real sports with tough competition, preparation, records. I was very surprised how the minister is sitting alone, without assistants and guards and ready to get in talk with normal people. Some photos are attached below.
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