Prague Journal

Wednesday, September 22, 2004.

We went back to the velodrome in the morning to see the final team sprints and (blind) tandem time trials. The Australian men placed first and third, with the US tandems getting a silver medal. In the women’s tandem event, Katie and Clarissa won a gold medal for the US.
We then spent some time watching wheelchair basketball. The US women whipped Great Britain by 74-24, no real contest. The Australian and the Netherlands teams were more evenly matched, with the Aussies winning by 30-25. (In the final competition on Monday, the women's US team beat Australia to win the Gold Medal.)
Next on our agenda were several athletic events. In between the men’s blind 100, 200, and 1500 meter races (totally blind runners have assistants running beside them), we saw women javelin throwers and men shot putters. The women’s 800 meter event was sad to see, as the CP (cerebral palsy) runner who had been leading everyone until the final lap, tripped and fell a few meters from the finish line.
Our last event of the afternoon was men’s basketball, but we arrived only in time to see the very end of the Canadian victory over France (62-43).
Tonight’s dinner, at Christos’s suggestion, was at Delfi near Syntagma Square. Unlike the other restaurants we had been to, Delfi had a non-smoking section and an extensive (and expensive) menu of fresh fish and seafood. We opted for dessert at a local café where the prices were more moderate.

posted by JWinn @ 8:35 PM