Paralympic athletes boost awareness

Picture credit: Rex Features

Success for domestic athletes at the London 2012 Paralympics has helped improve awareness of visual impairment.

So far, visually impaired athletes in ParalympicsGB had won medals in every sport they had entered, including athletics, cycling, judo, rowing and swimming.

The medals for blind football and goalball were yet to be decided, but Dave Clarke, captain of the ParalympicsGB five-a-side football team, starred in the opening ceremony by taking the penultimate leg of the torch relay.

Ireland's eight medals included T13 100m gold for sprinter Jason Smyth, who became the fastest Paralympian on the planet with a world record time of 10.46sec.