Paralympic team return with Beijing in mind

THE Irish Paralympic squad returned home from Athens yesterday to a rousing reception at Dublin Airport, even if the country missed out on winning a gold medal for the first time since 1964.

Just like their Olympic counterparts, the Paralympic movement has faced questions on a medal haul that was considerably lower than the nine brought back from Sydney four years ago - five of which were gold.

However, the Irish team, although slightly larger than its predecessor in 2000, contained fewer individual athletes, which reduced our medal chances at an event where the all-round standard is rising.