Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and the Great Opportunity for Paralympic Sport

Last Sunday was exactly two years until the start of the Paralympic Games in London. In 2012 the elite of the disabled sporting world will compete in the nation's capital in what promises to be the most widely covered Paralympic Games of all time.

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As the excitement grows talk of expectations, performance and legacy are mentioned more and more. This is something firmly in the mind of Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Great Britain's most decorated Paralympian, who sees this as the biggest games ever.

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"I've publicly said I want this to be the biggest Paralympic games ever,” she said. “It's the same team organizing both games, it's the same sponsors. But in terms of the British performances, they are on a different level especially considering the pressure on athletes competing on home soil.”

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As an athlete who collected 16 Paralympic medals, including 11 golds over a glittering career spanning five games, Dame Tanni knows the pressures of performing at the highest level. As a coach and member of the UK Athletics board, she understands the pressures that a home Olympics will deliver.

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"It's intense, but then any Paralympics is intense, because that's what you aim for as an athlete. A lot of the coaches and athletes have their heads screwed on. It's just been about keeping your head down and winning medals."

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This year is a milestone for another reason though, as it marks 50 years since the first recognized Paralympic games were held in Rome in 1960. The development since the Games' inception has been remarkable, even more so over the period of Dame Tanni's Paralympic career, which began in Seoul 1988.

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"The development has been huge. Even back in '84 no one really knew what the Paralympics was. In 1988 a few people knew, but really the watershed for us was 1992. Back in 1960 there was such a different attitude toward disability. There are photos from '57 of doctors with oxygen tanks, in case any athletes struggled to breathe after races. Now it's been turned on its head, considering what the expectations on disabled athletes are."

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Disability sport has been a sore subject for a number of years, with elite athletes struggling for equality in terms of exposure and financial backing compared to able-bodied athletes. These are areas which have greatly improved over the last 15 years, with Lottery funding being equally split between both British Olympic and Paralympic governing bodies, but advertisers still remain cautious.

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"I think it's because there is still a fear around disability. In the 1970s there was an athlete on a breakfast cereal box in America. We haven't broken down that barrier in the UK yet, so I think London will help to do that. It will push the change. The opportunity the athletes have by competing on home soil, whether that�s publicity, financial or just getting their faces recognized is huge. London will put them in a place they have never been before. There is still that difficulty for disabled people that sport can help to break down."

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Having bought the broadcasting rights for an estimated �8 million, Channel 4 have promised over 150 hours of coverage for the Paralympic games and are beginning an advertising campaign to raise public awareness of the sports. This builds on the huge exposure that Beijing gave the games in 2008, by far the greatest given to any of the XIII games. The impact this had on disabled sports is something that Dame Tanni and LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games) want to see emulated and built upon in 2012.

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"There are now more young people, more disabled people thinking "Wow, I want to be an athlete," which is a part of it [Beijing's impact]. I think it also opens up loads of opportunities to see these athletes as ordinary people in society. The Paralympics are not going to change all of the difficulties which disabled people have in terms of education and employment, but it will go a long way in giving disabled people confidence."

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The main talking point though is the legacy the games will leave, and the long-term impact they will have on disability sport in the UK. "It will be a massive thing to create household names which is brilliant because that affects young disabled people, who don't necessarily want to be athletes but want to be active and do sport. People can realise that they can have an ambition.

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"The legacy has nothing to do with LOCOG, the legacy is everyone's responsibility. It's the governing bodies, the clubs and the volunteers at the Games. It�s making the most of all the opportunities that arise after the Games and bringing everyone together.

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"I watched the '84 games, and thought: 'Wow, �that�s what I want to do' and 2012 will be that inspiration to a whole new generation of young people. Then it's what the clubs and volunteers do with that to keep it going."

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson was speaking as last week was exactly�two years to go to the Paralympics – plan your games at www.london2012.com.

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