The 2012 London Paralympic Games - Disabled Olympic Games 7.5.2012

The London Paralympics will begin on 29 August 2012, when disabled athletes will take part in the sporting event in the world of disabled worlds largest multinational sports. Staging the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games is a unique and inspiring experience. It is also an honour, one that the UK last enjoyed in 1948. More than 50 years on, they will host the greatest sporting and cultural show on earth again. It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. They will have the chance to show the country, the world, and themselves, at their best. The International Olympic Committee says that London 2012 will enable the country to provide facilities and services for elite athletes, as well as encouraging participation in sport well after the 2012 Games are over. The Olympic Park in East London "will become a model of social inclusion, opening up opportunities for education, cultural and skills development and jobs for people across London and Great Britain" says the IOC. The Paralympic Games in London will have 11 events within the main Olympic Park in Stratford - athletics, swimming, table tennis, wheelchair rugby, goal ball, wheelchair fencing, archery, seven-a-side and five-a-side football, track cycling and wheelchair tennis.  Power lifting, judo, wheelchair basketball, boccia, sitting volleyball will all take place at the nearby ExCeL Centre, equestrian events at Greenwich Park and shooting at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Internationally successful disabled athletes from Finland got their own stamps on 7^th May 2012. The two Finnish stamps in the Disabled Sports miniature sheet on the displayed FDC depict Leo-Pekka Tahti, the World Record holder in wheelchair racing, World Champion and Paralympic gold medallist, and Saana-Maria Sinisalo, an archer who has finished in points winning places in the World Championships. Both the athletes have high hopes of winning medals at the next Paralympics in London in 2012. In addition to the stamps, the miniature sheets depict other successful disabled athletes: goal ball players Petri Posio and Erkki Miinala, judoka Jani Kallunki, cyclist Jarmo Ollanketo, and pilot Marko Tormanen. Klaus Welp designs the stamp. The miniature sheet will contain the text “Disabled Sports” in Finnish and Swedish Braille, together with 1st class indications. My friend Ella gave this wonderful FDC to me.