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Parolympic Games

Hello,

I am getting sick of seeing people disrespect the Parolympic games. At the very minimum, the Parolympics should get the same recognition as the regular Olympics. Instead, it is sidelined on the inside pages of newspapers and is tucked away on Channel 4, who hardly show any of the sports, instead of on loads of special BBC Channels like the Olmpics.

The Channel 4 coverage is an absolute disgrace. Everytime I tune in, all I see is the presenters chatting in a studio that isn't even at the Olympic park then, when they occasionally cut to some of the sport, they interrupt it for adverts. Frankly, it's rude and does a great disservice to the athletes.

The Olympics were shown all day on several different channels, as well as BBC1 the biggest channel in the country. It is only fair the Parolympics are given the same treatment.

Parolympians work then times harder than any other athlete, so they deserve the same recognition as their Olympic counterparts. I feel ashamed to be British.
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Comments

  • I agree with your comment about Channel 4, but I think we Brits have really got behind our paralympian athletes. It's the very first time all the tickets have been sold out, which has never ever happened before. I, for one, am very very proud to be British.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,376 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I must admit after watching some of the great physical feats that the athletes are achieving I am starting to resent the fact they get to park closer than me at tesco.
    This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com
  • Searcher
    Searcher Posts: 600 Forumite
    Agreed that the Channel 4 coverage isn't great but they have the rights and there isn't a lot that anyone else can do about it, so I don't know why you should be ashamed to be British!
    The olympics weren't shown on several different channels as such, it was solely the BBC and nobody else in the UK was allowed to air anything but the smallest clips (I think 90 seconds per day and nothing longer than 10 seconds)
    So while I agree that the coverage is pretty dire I think that your comment about people disrespecting the paralymic games is pretty unfair
  • Searcher wrote: »
    Agreed that the Channel 4 coverage isn't great but they have the rights and there isn't a lot that anyone else can do about it, so I don't know why you should be ashamed to be British!

    They shouldn't have been allowed the rights. The BBC should have been allowed to show the same coverage as it did for the Olympics.
  • The BBC were outbid by Channel 4.
  • wallbash
    wallbash Posts: 17,775 Forumite
    I feel ashamed to be British.

    And you joined this forum , just to complain ??
    Troll !
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,636 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The Paralympians are truely inspirational, hopefully they will inspire other disabled people and also change the opinions of able bodied people. I think this will be the legacy of London 2012.

    P.S Has anyone seen the blind Iranians multi cartwheel goal celebration against GB yesterday?
  • kermitfrog
    kermitfrog Posts: 1,089 Forumite
    GABBLERAD wrote: »
    I am getting sick of seeing people disrespect the Parolympic games.

    The least you can do to show respect for the Paralympic athletes is to spell it correctly!

    It denotes the parallel Olympics.
  • vyle
    vyle Posts: 2,379 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    GABBLERAD wrote: »
    Hello,

    I am getting sick of seeing people disrespect the Parolympic games. At the very minimum, the Parolympics should get the same recognition as the regular Olympics. Instead, it is sidelined on the inside pages of newspapers and is tucked away on Channel 4, who hardly show any of the sports, instead of on loads of special BBC Channels like the Olmpics.

    The Channel 4 coverage is an absolute disgrace. Everytime I tune in, all I see is the presenters chatting in a studio that isn't even at the Olympic park then, when they occasionally cut to some of the sport, they interrupt it for adverts. Frankly, it's rude and does a great disservice to the athletes.

    The Olympics were shown all day on several different channels, as well as BBC1 the biggest channel in the country. It is only fair the Parolympics are given the same treatment.

    Parolympians work then times harder than any other athlete, so they deserve the same recognition as their Olympic counterparts. I feel ashamed to be British.

    I think you need to understand some things:

    Firstly, the BBC bid enough to secure the next four olympic games, but did not care enough to outbid C4 for the paralympics. Clearly the BBC did not want to broadcast them that much.

    Secondly, the BBC does not need to turn a profit in the same way that C4 does, so for C4 to invest however much it did, it clearly feels that it could turn a profit from the advertising. If it didn't have adverts, it wouldn't be able to stay in business. They're a necessary evil.

    C4 doesn't have the resources to hand to splurge on a bunch of special paralympic channels like the BBC did. If it DID, as a for-profit broadcaster, don't you think they'd be exploiting them for cash already?

    As for why it's sidelined in newspapers... papers like to tell a story, to pull the nation through a narrative. Sadly, they've already done this story, three/four weeks ago. It's too soon for them to repeat the stories, and most of the nation, in the newspapers' eyes is burnt out and repeating the same story isn't going to sell so well the second time round.

    It's not so much disrespectful as the unfortunate effects of going on second.
  • pink_princess
    pink_princess Posts: 13,581 Forumite
    goater78 wrote: »
    I must admit after watching some of the great physical feats that the athletes are achieving I am starting to resent the fact they get to park closer than me at tesco.
    I had to laugh at this :rotfl:

    I feel like they are putting me to shame, I am very proud of them :T
    Life is short, smile while you still have teeth :D
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