Team Surrey Sports Park rounded off a very successful Paralympic Games on Saturday with a silver and bronze medal in two different events.

Table Tennis

Women’s class 4-5 pair Anna-Carin Ahlquist and Ingela Lundback won their 2^nd medals each of the Games after losing to China in Saturday’s gold medal match to take silver. This followed a comfortable win against Korea in their semi final match on Friday.

Cycling

Guildford-based cyclist Rachel Morris defied the odds and won a bronze medal for Team GB in the women’s individual H 1-3 road race on Friday morning. Morris, who trains at Surrey Sports Park, suffered a dislocated shoulder in a recent car accident, putting doubt over her ability to perform at London 2012. Despite this she took part in two events at the Games, bagging a bronze medal for her nation.

Swimming

A total of 4 Swedish swimmers featured in finals on Saturday afternoon, but sadly could not add any medals to their tally. Mikael Fredriksson, Christoffer Lindhe, Anders Olsson and Maja Reichard all came through their heats, with Reichard coming closest to a medal finishing 4^th in the women’s 200m individual medley 200m final.

GB swimmer Hannah Russell finished in 4^th place in the women’s 50m freestyle S12 final.

Games Review

The London 2012 Paralympics saw Team Surrey Sports Park shine, winning our first ever gold medals alongside 3 silvers and 6 bronzes. Hannah Russell shone in the pool, while the female table tennis stars from Swedish picked up medals in individual and team events. World record veteran swimmer Anders Olsson added a silver medal to his impressive lifetime collection, while Meja Reichard secured a gold medal and a world record in the same event.

Bring on Rio 2016!

Thursday was a disappointing day for Team Surrey Sports Park at the Paralympics, with several Swedish medal hopes struggling at the Aquatics Centre and the ExCel.

Swimming

Sweden’s Jennie Ekstrom qualified for the women’s 50m backstroke S4 final on Thursday morning after coming 6^th in the heat. Jennie eventually finished in 7^th place. Pernilla Lindberg came 11^th in the women’s 100m breaststroke heat and failed to qualify for the final.

Table Tennis

Both men’s table tennis pairs from Sweden failed to make it past the quarter final stages of their competition. Emil Andersson and Fabian Rignell lost 3-1 to European counterparts Germany, while Fredrik Andersson and Linus Karlsson lost 3-2 to Poland. The womens pair of Anna-Carin Ahlquist and Ingela Lundback face Korea in the semi finals on Friday morning.

Team SSP secured it’s 9^th gold medal of the Paralympics yesterday, a 6^th in the Aquatics Centre and a 3^rd for one GB athlete.

Swimming

Guildford’s Hannah Russell made it a hat-trick of medals in the pool on Wednesday evening, winning a bronze medal in a tough 100m breaststroke S12 final. Hannah has one final event to take part in on Friday- the women’s 50m freestyle S12.

Two Swedish athletes emulated each other’s performances in separate events, both coming 6^th in their heats and finals. Christoffer Lindhe took on the men’s 100m freestyle S4, while Anders Olsson was in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB5 respectively. Both swimmers have one more event each on Saturday.

The last Mauritian athlete to compete, Scody Victor, finished 15^th in the men’s 50m freestyle S9 heats. 

Table Tennis

Sweden began their drive for more table tennis medals in the men’s and women’s team events, with success in both. Emil Andersson and Fabian Rignell defeated their Czech Republic opponents in the men’s class 6-8 event (3-2), while singles medallists Anna-Carin Ahlquist and Ingela Lundback comfortably beat Jordan 3-0 in the women’s class 4-5 competition. These results take the men into the quarter finals and the women into the semi finals.

Following Monday’s gold rush, yesterday was a slightly quieter day for Team Surrey Sports Park, with just three athletes competing in various events, including the first of two from Mauritius.

Swimming

Veteran Swedish swimmer Anders Olsson failed to emulate his success in the pool on Saturday and could only manage 12^th place in the 50m freestyle S6 heats.

Hannah Russell took on her 3^rd event and, after finishing 1^st in the 100m freestyle S12 heats, came 6^th in the final.

Other results

Patricia Mustapha (women’s 800m T54, Mauritius) - disqualified 

Team Surrey Sports Park made history on Monday, achieving its first ever Paralympic gold medals in a day which provided a small medal haul for our athletes and continued one nation’s impressive performance in the table tennis event.

Swimming

Sweden’s Maja Reichard began the day with an impressive performance in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB11 heats, finishing 1^st overall and setting a world record to firmly set herself as favourite to win gold in the final. Not only did Maja go on to take that gold medal but she also beat the world record for the second time that day to cap an impressive performance in the pool.

Table Tennis

Sweden doubled their table tennis medal tally on Wednesday, including their first gold medal for Anna-Carin Ahlquist in the women’s class 3 singles event after comfortably beating Austria’s Doris Mader 3-0. Anna-Carin entered the competition in the semi-finals after receiving a bye and didn’t drop a game.

Emil Andersson put his semi-final defeat behind him to take the bronze medal in a 3-0 victory over Team GB player Ross Wilson.

Both players can now enjoy a day’s rest before beginning the team events, in which Sweden will be looking to take more medals.

Team GB continued their excellent start to the Paralympics over the weekend, finishing on Sunday night in 2^nd place behind China.

It was also a great few days for Team Surrey Sports Park, bagging 4 medals to take us up to 4 medals in total for the Games as of Monday morning.

Swimming

Two Swedish swimmers qualified for finals on Friday, including Christoffer Lindhe in the men’s 50m freestyle S4 and Maja Reichard in the women’s 100m freestyle S11. Both finished in 7^th place in their respective races.

Saturday brought better luck for Sweden in the pool as 46 year old Anders Olsson took a silver medal in the men’s 400m freestyle S6 after finishing 2^nd overall in the heats. Anders is currently Sweden’s only swimming medal winner, with other promising events to follow. Maja Reichard featured in her 2^nd final in 2 days (women’s 50m freestyle S11) and finished 5^th.

Sunday’s big news came from Guildford City swimmer Hannah Russell who won her second medal of the Games, taking bronze in the women’s 100m butterfly S12! This takes Hannah to two medals in two events during her debut Games, with a further 3 events still to come. Christoffer Linde and Pernilla Lindberg (Sweden) both also featured in swimming finals on Sunday, finishing 4^th and 5^th respectively.

Table Tennis

The weekend also saw Sweden win their first two table tennis medals of the Games. Josefine Abrahamsson defeated Phillipino Josephine Medina 3-0 in the women’s singles class 8 bronze medal match, while Ingela Lundback beat Khetam Abuawad from Jordon 3-2 to win the same medal in the class 5 event.

Emil Andersson progressed to the bronze medal match in the men’s singles class 8 competition after losing his semi final on Saturday to Richard Csejtey (Slovakia).

Other results

Mikael Fredriksson (Men’s 150m individual medley SM3, Sweden) – 9^th in heats, DNQ for final.

Pernilla Lindberg (Women’s 100m backstroke S14, Sweden) – 11^th place, DNQ for final.

Fredrik Andersson (Men’s singles table tennis class 10 preliminaries, Sweden) – lost 1-3 to Dezco Berecki (Hungary), DNQ for quarter finals.

Linus Karlsson (Men’s singles table tennis class 9 premliminaries, Sweden) – lost 1-3 to Tahl Leibovitz (USA) DNQ for semi finals.

Alexander Ohgren (Men’s singles table tennis class3 preliminaries, Sweden) – lost 1-3 to Tomas Pinas (Spain)

The Opening Day of the London 2012 Paralympics brought plenty of medal action for Team GB, winning 2 golds, 3 silvers and 2 bronze medals and settling nicely into 3rd place in the medal table.

One of these silvers came in the pool from an athlete very close to home…

Swimming

16 year old Hannah Russell, a Guildford City Swimming Club member, opened her debut appearance at the Paralympics with her first of 5 events- the 400m Freestyle S12. Hannah wowed the crowds with an impressive heat performance, breaking the British record and finishing just over 5 seconds ahead of the 2^nd fastest qualifier.

Hannah went into Thursday evening’s final as the favourite to bag a gold medal following a strong performance in the heats. Russell fought a tough race against Russia’s Oxana Savchenko, with the pair swapping leads throughout. It was eventually Savchenko who took the gold medal, leaving Hannah proud to take a silver medal in her first ever Paralympic final and Team Surrey Sports Park’s first of the Games!

Table Tennis

Sweden had a mixed success start to the men’s and women’s singles table tennis events at the ExCel Centre.  European Champion Ingela Lundback started well, beating Shu-Chin Hsiao (Chinese Taipei) 3-2 in her first match. Fabian Rignell and Josefine Abrahamsson also won their openers.

Other results

Fredrik Andersson (Men’s Singles Table Tennis Class 10, Sweden) - Lost 2-3 to Abdelrahman Abdelwhab (Egypt)

Linus Karlsson (Men’s Singles Table Tennis Class 9, Sweden) - Lost 2-3 to Cedrik Cabestany (France)

Alexander Ohgren (Men’s Singles Table Tennis Class 3, Sweden) - Lost 2-3 to Dacian Makskin (Romania)

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 30th August.

A team of swimmers have arrived at Surrey Sports Park ahead of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Mauritius are the final team to take part in a pre-Games training camp at Surrey Sports Park, following the 16 other nations that have used the University of Surrey-owned venue this summer.

They are not the first Paralympic athletes to train at the Sports Park either after Sweden visited for swimming and table tennis events in July.

Following the massive success of the Olympic Games, eyes are now turned to the Paralympics which begin on 29th August. Popularity has risen over the last few weeks for tickets to the Games as more and more people want a taste of London 2012 fever if they missed out last time.

Despite the demand for seats, tickets are still available via the London 2012 ticketing website for many sessions within the Olympic Park and around London.

Day Fourteen

The Olympic Games went out with a bang on Sunday evening as a packed Olympic Stadium and over 26 million people watching on TV witnessed a Closing Ceremony to remember, featuring a line-up of legendary British music from the present day and from times that jogged the memories of those present.

The Games ended well for Team GB earlier on Sunday, as super heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua picked up the nation’s final gold medal, taking the gold tally to 29.

The final Team Surrey Sports Park athlete to compete was Mongolian marathon runner Ser-Od ‘Ziggy’ Bat-Ochir, who finished 51st.

The Olympic Games

Following a little over two weeks of inspiring performances, goose bump raising moments and emotional tear-jerkers the Olympic Games have come to an end. Team GB managed to surpass expectation in most disciplines and achieve a medal haul that any nation would be proud of. In fact, it is fair to say that the whole Olympic Games was a success on a major scale. Picking fault would be hard and completely irrelevant.

Surrey Sports Park hosted over 250 athletes and their coaching teams ahead of the Games, including a teams of Swedish and Mauritian Paralympians who have yet to compete.

The camps were branded a success by all of the teams. Feedback from the athletes paid tribute to the high quality, friendly operations provided by SSP staff, a great range of healthy and well-prepared food and the availability of high quality rooms on-site to ensure that the complete package and the experience as a whole was spot on! Many of the teams even said that they would consider SSP for future competition preparation programmes!

But of course it was the performances of these athletes at the Games that would really inspire those who came to watch them train, those who brushed past them in reception or just simply read about them in this very blog! We had our targets and a rough idea of where medals would come for ‘Team Surrey Sports Park’ but, like Team GB, expectations were exceeded. 

Spain

The Spanish swimmers were hard to miss during their time in Guildford. Donning their bright red and yellow tracksuits, we had a flavour of the Mediterranean around the pool for a few days. 

The first week of competition brought double success for swimmer Mireia Belmonte Garcia as she took home two silver medals, one in the 200m butterfly and another in the 800m freestyle. She even faced the home nation pressure of Rebecca Adlington in the 800m freestyle final, but that wasn’t enough to prevent her from securing her 2nd medal.

Singapore

Team Singapore came to Surrey Sports Park with high hopes of a medal or two after taking the table tennis team silver medal in Beijing 2008.

There were mixed results at the tables for the Asian nation, as they failed to better their 2008 showing in the team event, only managing a bronze, while Feng Tianwei achieved a medal of the same colour in the women’s individual competition.

China

Hosting a synchronised swimming team added some glamour and grace to the pre-Games preparation camps at Surrey Sports Park.

China went into the synchro events as one of the favourites to win gold medals. But it was a Russian domination that kept them off the top spot in both, earning a bronze medal in the women’s duet and a silver medal in the women’s team competitions.