The Paralympics 2008

The Paralympics has closed today amid the expected splendour of Beijing and the embarrassment of the British bus again at the closing ceremony. To say our contribution was low key is an exaggeration - we can't compete with the mass synchronisation and the amazing spectacle of fireworks of the Chinese but do our ambitions have to be so small by comparison? Get yer fingers out people!

The Paralympics started the day before I went into hospital so I never really engaged with the event and that's my loss. We came (gulp) second in the medal table after China - an astonishing 42 gold medals and 102 medals in total. Well done to all in the team, that's an incredible result and should stand us in good stead for London in 2012.

It's amazing what people can do when they really want to.