British Embassy Berlin – 2012 Paralympics: Taking stock and looking ahead

The end of the 2012 Paralympic Games should not mean the end of efforts to promote disability sport and an inclusive society. That was the message of an event held today (13 September) in the Berlin representation of Deutsche Telekom.

The 2012 Paralympics broke new records and set new standards: 2.5 million tickets sold; 4,200 athletes from 164 nations; and 503 competitions in 21 disciplines. Media interest was unprecedented.

Both Channel 4 and the German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF showed more live coverage of the event than ever before.

The aim now is to preserve the momentum of this success. To this end, the British Embassy, Deutsche Telekom and the German Paralympic Committee today hosted a lunch discussion with the title "The Games are over, the Legacy starts".

Thirteen German Paralympians freshly returned from London, including some bearing gold and silver medals, told British Ambassador Simon McDonald and Vice President of the German Disability Association Thomas Härtel what they thought had been achieved in London and what could be done to build on the Games' success.

In his message of welcome, Simon McDonald expressed his hope that the today's event would send and important signal and "provide ideas on how we can improve the lives of people with disabilities".

The discussion was chaired by ZDF presenter Jana Thiel, who also presented the highlights of the Paralympic coverage. Paralympians Daniela Schulte, Marianne Buggenhagen, Matthias Schröder, Tobias Schneider, Thomas Ulbricht, Jan Gürtler, Christiane Reppe, Daniel Simon, Niels Grunenberg, Julia Kabus, Verena Schott, Torben Schmidtke and Katrin Splitt provided the commentary.

Live action was on the programme too: table tennis player and silver medal winner Jan Gürtler challenged Ambassador McDonald and other guests from politics and industry to a match live on stage.

British Embassy Berlin