Having the time of our life – watching wheelchair basketball
So London 2012 is almost over. I should be watching the closing ceremony but I think I am all ceremonied out – and besides it hasn’t started properly yet. I will miss the Olympics and the Paralympics. London has been a very different place this summer – roads closed; restrictions on others; severely crowded DLR and almost empty Jubilee Line on occasions; the impossibility of working out when was the best time to go to work to avoid the crowds; excited children; trying to work out which country people in all kinds of patriotic outfits with painted faces were from; the dread that it would be a disaster; the euphoria of Team GB and Paralympics GB winning all those medals… but most of all it has been the joy of watching live sport and the friendliness of the other spectators.
Despite the overcrowding on some public transport, it’s actually been a very relaxing summer. I shall miss it all. Now I need to know when is the next cycling road race, wheelchair basketball tournament and athletics meet, that I can go to?
For the Paralympics, I actually got tickets (well my sister did) for the Wheelchair Basketball at the North Greenwich Arena and had the joy of watching the attacking play of the Brazilian women, the sheer cleverness of the Dutch and a not so enthralling defence-led game between Australia and Mexico. And of course, watching the crowd and the other goings on:
A lone French fan waits for the Brazil v France game
Can anyone tell me the significance of a chicken hat for support the French women’s wheelchair basketball team?
Brazil score one of their many winning points
My favourite Brazilian player – Debora Cristina Guimaraes da Costa
The dangers of wheelchair basketball
The passion in wheelchair basketball
A Mexican player becomes a spectator after her match. I particularly like the spare foot in the backpack!
China vs Netherlands
Great images as always, love the use of open space and repetition in the earlier images.
Thanks Roger. I like to place people in context – hence the use of space. Luckily for me the seats were the same colour blue as the French fans’ costumes. I don’t think those images would have worked if the seats had been orange or purple!