ParalympicsGB #BriFri
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Last week, I enjoyed more of the Olympics from the British perspective. Tina worked her way through the classic novel Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë.
A week from today, we can watch the Opening Ceremony for the Paralympics in the same stunning location as the closing of the Olympics this past weekend — Verona Arena.
I was surprised to learn that the Torch Relay for this Paralympics began in the UK. With a little research, I learned that the Paralympic Heritage Flame is at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, the National Centre for Disability Sport in Buckinghamshire. According to this article about the torch relay, Stoke Mandeville is considered “the spiritual birthplace of the Paralympic Movement.” Of course, this meant that UK athletes participated in the ceremony on Tuesday. So, the excitement has already taken hold!
ParalympicsGB will send 25 athletes to the games in Milano and Cortina, Italy.
The team includes UK’s first female snowboarder Paralympian, Nina Sparks.
Skier Menna Fitzpatrick, MBE, will participate in her third Paralympics, although there was some worry due to an injury in December. She hopes to add to her collection of six medals in the Alpine Skiing events for the visually impaired class.
ParalympicsGB has seven athletes participating in wheelchair curling, the sport that I’m most looking forward to.
Are you planning to watch the Paralympics?

