21st May marked 100 days to go to the start of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
I’m here at the HQ of the Ukrainian National Paralympics Committee (NPC) in Kyiv for a press conference to mark the event, together with NPC President Valeriy Sushkevych; Simon Minty, a UK specialist on diversity and inclusivity; Sergiy Glushchenko, First Deputy Head of the State Social Service for Youth and Sports of Ukraine; and members of the Ukrainian National Paralympics Team.
Ukraine is one of the great powers of Paralympic sport and everyone is looking forward with immense excitement to the country’s participation in the Games.
In his remarks, Mr Sushkevych is generous in noting the role of the UK as the home of the Paralympics movement, and our good co-operation with, and support for, the NPC. Simon Minty sets out some of the practical measures which have been taken to ensure that not only the new venues but also existing ones such as Wimbledon are accessible not only to spectators with disabilities but also to sportsmen and sportswomen participating in Paralympics disciplines.
We have been working closely with the Ukrainian National Paralympics Committee for many months, both on events to promote the Paralympics and on practical matters such as provision of mobile biometric units so that our visa officers can come to the athletes rather than vice-versa.
All that remains now is for the Games themselves to start – I wish the powerful Ukrainian team the best of luck in what we all hope will be some of the best Paralympic Games ever held.