Treacy backing for Beijing

IRISH Sports Council (ISC) chief executive John Treacy is confident Beijing will be a suitable venue for the Paralympic Games.

Controversy hit the Games early last month when a training manual for volunteers contained disparaging remarks about disabled people, calling them “stubborn, controlling, defensive” and adding that they had “a strong sense of inferiority”.

Legendary Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser, who won gold in the 100m freestyle at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games, has already claimed she will not be attending either the Olympics or Paralympics in Beijing because of the treatment of Paralympic athletes she witnessed on the streets of the Chinese capital in the mid-1990s.

However, organisers have claimed that the manual was a case of cultural differences and poor translation and say they are more than ready to cater for the 4,000 athletes from 153 countries competing in late August.

Officials have also pointed out that there are approximately one million disabled people living in the city and that attitudes have moved on in recent years and Treacy’s own experiences there have prompted him to predict that the 2008 Paralympics will prove to be a roaring success.

“We saw it at the Special Olympics in Shanghai last year and it was a fantastic event.

“What we are seeing is China opening its doors. It certainly opened its doors to people with disabilities last year.

“I would say that they will embrace the Paralympic movement and I feel it will be a superb games in a great country.”

Ireland will bring 45 athletes to China, the biggest team since Atlanta in 1996. The Athens team returned home with four medals in 2004 and three of those athletes are again on board this time, although bronze track athlete Derek Malone will this time compete with the football team.

“I feel that this is a team that will do really well in representing Ireland,” said the team’s chef de mission Jimmy Byrne. “We have all worked hard on a four-year plan to get to this stage and it has paid dividends.”

The Irish team consists of 10 track and field athletes, four cyclists, one archer, four Boccia players, a team of 12 footballers, six swimmers, five sailors, two table tennis players and one dressage rider. Medal hopes are high.

Double world champion and world record holder in 100m and 200m Jason Smyth is among the travelling party, as is another world champion and record holder, teenager Michael McKillop, who competes in the 800m.

“This is my first Paralympics,” said Smyth. “I would like to go out and perform as well as I can. If I run towards my PB (personal best) I will be happy with whatever the outcome is after that.”