Atif and Jenani, 8 Apr 2009
We spent Saturday meeting up again with the other London 2012 Youth Ambassadors who went to Singapore and hearing from London 2012 about the progress that's been made on the Games since we were last together.
Last summer we toured the Olympic Park after demolition was complete, but before the building of the venues had begun, so it was brilliant to have the chance to see first hand the progress made since then. The Olympic Park is massive and it looks really good up close; particularly the way in which the venues and the Park as a whole are taking shape from the piles of dirt we saw last year.
But the highlight of the day was meeting Clare Strange, who has played Wheelchair Basketball for ParalympicsGB at the last three Paralympic Games. Clare even brought some spare wheelchairs with her so that we could all try out the sport. It was really challenging but great fun and because non-disabled people can play the sport up to Division 1 standard in the UK, several of us are now thinking of taking up the game.
Meeting Clare inspired us differently and it's hard to describe that in a shared blog, so we're not going to try. Instead we'll sign off with our own thoughts:
(Jenani) I loved Clare, she is such an amazing person. Her strength in dealing with huge change in her life (when she was injured riding her horse and became a wheelchair user) was inspirational.
(Atif) I had a really similar reaction for different reasons. Clare really inspired me in the way that she focusses totally on the positive aspects of her accident and disability and shows a positive way forward for athletes (or anyone really) who have been injured. I've recently been injured in a car accident and whilst my injuries are nowhere near as severe as Clare's, I found her story and attitude a real example for me in my current situation, you might even say she's my new role model!
London 2012 Blog, 8thb April 2009
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