Simon Jackson

05.09.2008

We are now on the eve of the Beijing Paralympic Games. For me it's a bit strange as this will be the first Paralympic Games that I haven't been a competitor since my first Games in Seoul in 1998. Due to injury I had to retire from Paralympic Judo but since May this year I've been starting up my new career in cycling, just narrowly missing out on selection for Beijing. But that's not a bad thing because I've only been on the bike a couple of weeks so to get selected would have been difficult - but I will make sure I am on that bike in 2012 don't you worry!.

By all accounts from texts and calls I am getting from the GB squad in Beijing it's quite an experience, with the facilities second to none, and all the team are just settling in waiting to compete in their event now. Judo is a really close knit group. One of my good friends in the Judo team who is at his first Paralympics games gave me a call the other day from Beijing and was wondering whether he should go to the Opening Ceremony because he is competing just a day later. I told him - you waited four years for this moment and might never do it again and to walk out in front of 80,000-90,000 people screaming is a fantastic thing to happen to you.

The GB team all get a nice suit, shirt and tie for the Ceremony and it's an opportunity for everybody to get dressed up and enjoy the occasion. You'll see and meet people all the different countries represented. Some of the African countries have really colourful outfits and it's a real party atmosphere and something to enjoy and savour and a fantastic feeling. So just enjoy the experience, I told him.

I think one of the amazing things about any Paralympics is the Village, for me one of my favorite Paralympic Villages was Athens four years ago but normally they quite similar in size and structure and nobody is ever disappointed. The Village normally holds about 7,000-8000 people and about 2,000 thousand staff. It's like an experience within an experience because you're seeing a huge mix of nationalities from all around the world. You can bump into an Iraqi or a Cuban it a great experience and everyone is really friendly. There's a massive food hall that caters for 10,000 people and they have every kind of food you can imagine. They have all different food stations like if you go to one of the big shopping centres in GB, like Blue Water Lakeside in the South and the Trafford centre in the North, every kind of food you want is there, every cuisine to suit every taste. The food is phenomenal and really something to see. If there’s one thing I regret it's that I never videoed anything because just to try to explain to people about facilities that can cater for 10,000 people. Phenomenal - and you can find food from all around the world.

I think in this Paralympics GB have got a really strong team, I think in the two sports that I am involved with I would say Sam Ingram and Ian Rose should do really well and medal in the Judo and the other lads have good chances as well. In the Cycling Sarah Storey and Jody Cundy , the two ex-paralympic gold swimmers, have medal chances, as do the other riders like Antony Kappas and his pilot Barney Storey. I think their will be the usually suspects involved on the track with David Weir and Oscar Pistrous the main stars but like all Paralympic Games you will see new stars being born and a few upsets -so stay tuned over the next few weeks to see who emerges victorious.