Surrey Sports Park athletes begin London 2012 Paralympics
Friday 31 August 2012
The Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games is today and Surrey Sports Park is keeping a close eye on a number of athletes that trained with us this summer.
SSP hosted two Paralympic teams through July and August, with a number of strong medal hopes to look out for. Will Team Surrey Sports Park get its first gold medal of London 2012?
Sweden
A team of 8 table tennis players and 6 swimmers from Sweden finished their pre-Games preparation at SSP in July. The swimming squad provides strong hope for medals at the Paralympics, including experienced swimmer Anders Olsson, who secured two gold medals in the 2008 Olympic Games, four times world record holder Jennie Ekström and recent IPC (International Paralympic Committee) record breaker Maja Reichard.
Sweden picked up a silver and bronze medal at Beijing 2008 in the men’s and women’s individual table tennis events and will be looking to improve on this in London.
Mauritius
Only two athletes from Mauritius will compete at the London 2012 Paralympics, including swimmer Scody Victor who trained at Surrey Sports Park. He will be joined by women’s 800m track athlete Patricia Mustapha, who was also catered for at SSP.
Team GB
GB swimmer and world record holder Hannah Russell has been named by the BBC as one to watch at the Paralympics. The Guildford City swimmer will compete in 5 different events in the Aquatics Centre, starting with the S12 400m freestyle event on 30 August.
