UK celebrates International Paralympic Day

Today, September 8th, is International Paralympic Day. The main celebrations will be hosted right in the centre of London, in Trafalgar Square. The UK was the birthplace of the paralympic movement, and so the games will be coming home when the Olympic and Paralympic Games are held in London in 2012. There will be a taste of what will be on offer in Trafalgar Square today with demonstrations of Wheelchair Basketball, Power lifting and Wheelchair Rugby. There will also be an attempt at a Guiness World Record for Sitting Volleyball, and a chance for people to meet paralympic athletes.

Romania’s own Paralympic movement has been going from strength to strength recently. For many years there was no Romanian participant in the games. Then in 2000 one athlete took part, in 2004 two athletes, and in 2008 five Romanian athletes participated in the games in Beijing. This is a testament to the hard work of Romania’s National Paralympic Committee, as well as to the gradual improvement in the rights of disabled people since Romania became a candidate country and then joined the EU.

We look forward to welcoming the Romanian team to London next year. We plan to host the most accessible Games ever. Disabled advisory groups have been involved from the very start to ensure as many people as possible can come and enjoy the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The motto of London 2012 is that ‘sport is for everybody’. I hope the remarkable achievements of paralympic athletes will prove an inspiration to disabled people in Romania and around the world, and to everyone in showing how disabled people can lead independent lives, achieve their potential and make their contribution as members of our community.