These paralympics

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Is it just me, or is it hard to ascertain exactly how some of these medal winners are disabled? Most of them interviewed by the bbc so far seem to have had, like, a foot missing, which while I'm sure is a terrible disability, hardly seems to matter when your prosthetic appendage is strapped to a bike pedal which you're thrashing round a track at 50mph anyway.

They've just interviewed two swimming medallists, who I couldn't tell what was meant to be disabled about them at all. Do they have events for people with minor hearing difficulties, or something?

[ursus arctos]

These paralympics

Assuming that it's a serious question, here is a guide to the (very detailed and quite complicated) sets of disability categories used in the Paralympics.

[kugelrund]

These paralympics

Is it just me, or is it hard to ascertain exactly how some of these medal winners are disabled?

Especially if they're Spanish...

Spain were stripped of their gold medal in the basketball event for people with learning difficulties at the Sydney Olympics, after it was confirmed that ten of the 12 members of the team were not disabled.

[Guest]

These paralympics

My father-in-law is a former Paralympian. He was in the British team that came fourth in the volleyball in 1984. He was telling us the other night about the points system for each team: players missing half a limb scored one point, the whole limb two and so on. Each team had to fulfil a minimum quota of points.

I asked if anyone brought a guy with no arms and no legs and parked him in the middle of the court, with the other, able-bodied players leaping about thrashing all and sundry. He laughed (that could have gone either way I suppose) and said the guy in the middle could head it if it came to him, but no, nobody had tried it.

Anyway, sometimes it does seem a bit unfair, doesn't it? Especially in the swimming I saw on Wednesday, which was a butterfly race in which a guy with no arms was racing against people with two arms. That seemed rough even before he brained himself touching in at the finish, but amazingly he came third.

[Jorge Porbillas]

These paralympics

I seem to recall from the last Paralympics that the person that finishes first in the pool doesn't necessarily win - it's like down to the times compared to category of disability ... or maybe I just dreamed that.

[Spearmint Rhino]

These paralympics

Tell you what, I was disappointed by the Wheelchair Rugby today. The billing promises so much, but when you actually watch it, it's more like Dodgems Netball.

[Guest]

These paralympics

The 400m for men with cerebral palsy was a heartbreaker. Evidently completing the distance before the body gives out is difficult: two guys didn't make it round the second bend, and when they went, they went really suddenly. With 20m to go one bloke was leading by miles, but then he Devon Loched. Face first into the Tartan, as well. Horrible.