Thanks for the warm up. Here we come!

Like many of you I suspect, I spent most of my spare time during the Olympics glued to the TV watching some extraordinary sport. Who could fail to admire performers like Mo Farah, Michael Phelps or David Rudisha? 29 gold medals for Team GB and third place in the medal table was a great feeling too! The breadth of the competition was extraordinary too. I never normally watch sports like pole vaulting, weightlifting, fencing or taekwondo but found them all fascinating. As a cricket fan, I think it should be added to the list too. My only regret is that I missed the special Olympic atmosphere in London.

But as British TV Channel 4 says  “Thanks for the warm up.”  Next stop the Paralympics! More than two million tickets have already been sold. More than 4,000 athletes from 150 nations will be competing in 471 events. In 1948, when the first disability games were held at Stoke Mandeville, only 16 disabled ex-servicemen took part. And the competition will be just as tough as it was two weeks ago. Oscar Pistorius’s rivalry with Jerome Singleton in the amputee sprint events is as fierce as that between Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake at the Olympics. This is all about sporting excellence from dedicated athletes.

Paralympics GB are one of the best teams in the world. We came second in the Beijing medal table with 102 medals, including 42 golds and are aiming for more this time. Poland too has a proud Paralympic record with 30 medals in Beijing, including 5 golds. So both our teams are even higher ranked than their Olympic counterparts. I am looking forward to seeing how great Polish athletes like Justyna Kozdryk perform in London.

I have to say how much I regret that we will be denied the chance to watch them on Polish TV. While I appreciate budgets are finite, it is hard to understand why such a dedicated group of athletes will not get the public recognition they deserve and why such world class sport is not being broadcast. Moreover, Paralympic athletes are fantastic role models for us all, overcoming huge challenges to be excellent in their fields. It is so important that we take full advantage of the talent, skills and potential of every part of our societies.

We have used London 2012 to improve transport for disabled people, boost their sporting opportunities through extra investment, including in schools and promote the rights of the disabled. Disability groups helped design and build the Olympic Park as well as run the events. Nearly 5% of the 70,000 Games Maker volunteers are disabled. I am also proud that here we have been working with the government and Sejm to support Poland’s efforts to strengthen its own legal framework for the disabled.