The party's over, culminating in that wondrous curtain call on Monday when the streets of London really were paved with gold.

Now, through the heady haze of the most pleasurable of hangovers we contemplate the words of the Prime Minister David Cameron: "Twenty twelve will be like 1966, something we, our kids and grandkids will talk about for years to come."

Unquestionably prophetic – or wishful thinking? Only time will tell but I hope he is right, particularly about the Paralympics.

Before we get carried away on that euphoric magic carpet ride, we have to ask whether globally they made anything remotely like the impact they did here.

Television coverage overseas was way off the scale of Channel 4's daily output.

Only highlights were shown in the United States and, unlike the Olympics, little at all in many countries in Africa and Asia, even some in Europe.

This is not to put a downer on the glorious emancipation of the Paralympics. One can never do that.

Simply a reminder that sustainability is dependent on a fickle media both here and abroad.

Even the normally imperturbable Lord Coe got rather shirty last weekend when he complained that on Saturday's back pages – both tabloids and broadsheets – reverted to type when England's roll-over of Moldova in the football World Cup qualifier shoved the Paralympics off the back pages. And by and large, the Sundays decided that the semi-final endeavours of Andy Murray at Flushing Meadows were worthier than those of Oscar Pistorius and co in the Olympic Stadium.

Oscar Pistorius of South Africa wins the men's T44 400 metres on day eight of London 2012 but his feat was overshadowed in the media by Andy Murray's US Open activities

In this spot a few weeks ago, I asked with the footy season starting, how soon it would be before a Wayne Rooney groin strain kicked the Paralympics into touch in the tabs. Not long as it happened – although it was his gashed leg that got the headlines.

Our history shows that the public can be as notoriously fickle as the media, although it was heartening to note that ITV's coverage of the match in Moldova on Friday night drew two and a half million fewer viewers (3.9 million) than Channel 4's corresponding Paralympics' transmission (6.4 million).

Even so, as the Paralympics celebrated their golden finale one question burned with the intensity of the flame that had lit up our lives those past 12 days. How long will our newfound passion for sport for the less able linger? Or is it destined to fade like the flame itself?

Paralympians have fought long and hard for their showpiece to be recognised on merit as a sports event and not as a worthy adjunct to its able-bodied brother and this has been remarkably achieved.

Prosthetic legs have been firmly stuck through glass ceilings.

London 2012 provided a wonderful platform on which to demonstrate to the world that the Paralympics really have come home. But will it be to stay? And do we finally accept that it is truly as a sport and not just a novelty, a fascinating a freak show?

Again, only time will tell.

London's Paralympics were indeed a unique celebration of genuine athletic achievement, albeit founded on stories that persistently tugged at the heartstrings, brought tears to the eyes and lumps in throats – when actually all the competitors themselves wanted were the encouraging cheers from those who watched them. And those came in abundance as the Paralympics unravelled to reveal performances and personalities equal of the Games that had preceded them, hopefully to remain etched indelibly in the memory.

Britain's David Smith took silver in the individual BC1 boccia at London 2012

My hope is that the crowds that flocked to the Olympic Park or packed the outlying Games venues to watch Brits contest such arcane pursuits as boccia, wheelchair fencing and sitting volleyball weren't doing so out of voyeurism or simple curiosity – or because being there suddenly became the vogue on the coat tails of an arguably unmatchable Olympics.

But that they turned out in droves because they were there for the sport, not just for the theatre and that some of them will have been sufficiently captivated to go along to cheer the kids at the Junior Amputee Games at Stoke Mandeville this weekend.

So what next for those who have given the Paralympics the parity they craved? The real litmus test for the future of sport for the disabled is not 2012 but whether such unprecedented acclaim can be sustained or has it all been just a passing fancy?

Will the media coverage and spectator appeal be anything like as huge for next year's world championships in Lyon (where taekwondo is pressing for inclusion) and then the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow?

These will have just five Parasports – swimming, athletics, lawn bowls, powerlifting and cycling compared to the 22 here. But they will be integrated with the able-bodied events as in the last three Games.

Vision-impaired athletes can compete alongside able-bodied team members in track cycling at Glasgow 2014 in the new Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome

Track cycling will make its Commonwealth debut in Glasgow as one of the optional sports, providing medal opportunities for vision-impaired athletes who will compete alongside able-bodied team members in the new Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

In all, 22 fully integrated medal events will be offered across the Games and an equal number of medal opportunities will be offered for both male and female Parasport athletes.

Glasgow 2014 chief executive David Grevemberg told the insidethegames: "I am thrilled that following the finalisation of our sport programme we are able to offer more events and medal opportunities for Parasport athletes than any other Commonwealth Games in history.

"Our commitment to Parasport underlines its growth and popularity at all levels. After the huge success of London 2012, it will ensure that Commonwealth Parasport athletes can continue to perform on the big stage in front of thousands of spectators."

Up next will be the Paralympics in Rio two years later and our hope is that along the way we'll keep singing "There's Only One David Weir" and that his name, like those of Jonnie Peacock, Ellie Simmonds, Sarah Storey et al will still be as much on everyone's lips together, bracketed as they are now with Mo Farah, Jess Ennis, Bradley Wiggins and Nicola Adams.

London has set the bar and, as with the Olympics, may well prove an impossibly hard act for Rio to follow. As Peacock says: "If Rio is half as good it will be amazing."

Britain's Jonnie Peacock celebrates winning the London 2012 men's 100m T44 final

In some ways, it does seem a shame that the world's two biggest sporting events have to be treated separately. I am not suggesting that, as with the Commonwealth Games, the Paralympics should be interwoven with the Olympics. Clearly, that is not practical. But did they really have to extinguish the Olympic Flame on August 12, only for it to be relit 17 days later? At least keeping the flame alive would have made it seem more like a Games of two halves rather than two totally separate entities.

Because, while what has so entranced us these past few weeks in both the Olympics and Paralympics may have had extraordinarily different elements, there was only ever one common  denominator. It is called sport.

Today, we are all feeling better for this uplifting realisation.

Long may it last.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.

Speaking personally, I have always thought there was a hint of the Special One about Charles van Commenee, who has insisted on falling on his sword as UK Athletics performance director following the British team's failure to reach his pre-Games target of eight medals including one gold – even though four of the six won were gold, and no one on the senior management wanted him to go.

The Dutchman's reasoning over the issue is unimpeachable. "If I hold athletes and coaches accountable every day, how could I work over the next four years if I am not held accountable myself?" Van Commenee had asked – rhetorically – when he spoke to the media at the end of the London 2012 Olympics.

Niels de Vos, chief executive of UK Athletics, was ready to offer the Dutchman a new contract, which would take him up to 2017, when Britain will host the IAAF World Championships. De Vos and Ed Warner, the UK Athletics chairman, insisted that Van Commenee had a think about his decision while he was on holiday. He did. And when he came back his decision was the same. The delay, however, has prevented any negativity leaking into the overwhelmingly positive national coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics.

Clearly, Van Commenee wanted to go, as he was not obliged to. He himself acknowledged in the immediate aftermath of the Olympics that the British team had provided "some iconic moments that will remain forever with the British nation"; a state of affairs which he said filled him with pride.

By dint of the heavy-scoring golds, Britain also finished fourth in the athletics medals table behind the United States, China and Jamaica, four years after four medals, including one gold from 400 metres runner Christine Ohuruogu, had left them in joint eighth position.

Jessica Ennis crosses the line during the women's heptathlon 800m to win overall gold on day eight of London 2012

Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah created British athletic history on the first Saturday of the programme by winning the heptathlon, long jump and 10,000m respectively in the space of a pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming hour.

Farah's subsequent gold in the 5,000m a week later created another moment to treasure for all those who follow the sport. But a 400m silver from defending champion Ohuruogu and bronze in the high jump from Robbie Grabarz still left Britain two short of that relatively conservative estimate.

Whereas Van Commenee's predecessor Dave Collins, an ex-Marine who at times resembled Captain Hurricane being forced to reason with the enemy rather than doing the natural thing and hurling them to the four winds, never got much of a good press, the Dutchman has enjoyed a far higher and more successful profile.

And you sense he really has enjoyed it. Like that ex-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho – whatever happened to him, by the way? – Van Commenee relished the media game, and no briefing with him was ever dull.

At any point, he might take up barely disguised invitations to savage perceived weakness or lameness in an athlete. He was almost scornful of the efforts of some of those athletes under his charge after the European Championships in Helsinki earlier this summer, an attitude which was effectively given carte blanche by the UK Athletics Olympic selection policy: "The Panel will not nominate any athlete who it has good reason to think will be uncompetitive at the Games."

Charles van Commenee thrived under the spotlight of the media

Van Commenee was happy to accept in Helsinki that he expected "a heap of appeals" from athletes objecting to their exclusion from the Olympic team. In the event, there were ten such appeals – and all but one were turned down.

The Dutchman was entirely pragmatic on the issue. His is not a shoulder any athlete would look to cry upon. He doesn't do sentimentality, as he had very publicly demonstrated at the Athens Games of 2004 when he pretty much ruined the medal ceremony for the athlete he had coached to the heptathlon bronze medal, Kelly Sotherton, by publically calling her "a wimp" for not pursuing the silver which he felt had been within her grasp with sufficient vigour. Sotherton was reduced to tears.

He showed the same obduracy on the issue of including recently cleared athletes who had previously represented other nations in the team, always assuming they could perform to the requisite level. Some called them "Plastic Brits"; he just viewed them as Brits.

The selection of naturalised United States athletes such as Shana Cox and Tiffany Porter, and Yamilé Aldama, formerly of Cuba and the Sudan, raised ire in many quarters. Porter was even named captain of the team at this year's World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, where she was sent into consternation by a request from a Daily Mail man to sing the National Anthem.

Tiffany Porter ignored criticism that she was a "Plastic Brit" saying she is proud to be American, British and Nigerian

Van Commenee has always taken the same line Jack Charlton did in selecting unlikely recruits for the Ireland football team, namely that if it was legal it was OK. He also reacted strongly in defence of Porter by banning the reporter involved for a period of time from UK Athletics media events.

He has often shown a willingness to stick his neck out. For instance, his decision to select Lynsey Sharp, the Scot who won the Olympic trials and the European title in Helsinki, for the Olympic 800m, even though she only had a B standard qualifying time, meant that only one place could be filled. Van Commenee had the option of picking three other runners who had all fulfilled the A standard, even though none had shown good form in the run-up to the Games. He was widely criticised for sticking with his gut instinct to select Cameron, who ultimately failed to reach the final in London 2012.

Among those who argued against his decision was the woman whom he had personally coached to the 2000 Olympic heptathlon title, Denise Lewis, who called it "a farce".

Personally, I think van Commenee took a brave and correct decision, even though it didn't pay off.

But I could not agree with the way he handled Phillips Idowu in the run-up to the London Olympics. Van Commenee and the idiosyncratic triple jumper have clearly never got on, and their relationship dipped to a new low last year when Idowu pulled out of the European team championships and van Commenee said UK Athletics had only heard of his injury via Twitter – a situation he described as "not acceptable".

Phillips Idowu enjoyed a frosty relationship with Charles van Commenee

Idowu insisted he had not used Twitter for this purpose, and had let UK Athletics know about his injury earlier, adding that Van Commenee had told "a blatant lie". Relations between the two degenerated as Idowu insisted he would not talk to Van Commenee again unless he received an apology – and then refused to take the head coach's proffered hand when it was publicly offered to him at the airport following the IAAF World Championships in Korea, where Idowu earned silver.

More recently, there was clearly a big problem coming into the Olympics with Idowu insisting he was not injured and van Commenee saying he was. It got nasty – but there was no excuse for the statement made by the British Olympic Association (BOA) on the eve of the Games saying they had written to Idowu asking for his medical records. That was ganging up – and van Commenee, who presumably knew about it, should not have had anything to do with it.

In the event Idowu, silver medallist in Beijing, was clearly out of shape and could not reach the final. But that was not the point.

Had just a couple of things gone differently on the track or in the field at the Olympic stadium, the question of van Commenee moving on would not even have been aired. As it is, he seems the prime mover in his own removal. It will be interesting to see where he ends up next – presumably, he will not be at a loose end for too long.

Charles van Commenee is set for pastures new

The downside to Van Commenee is his occasional lack of judgement in dealing with athletes. At times, he goes too far and the question raises itself – as indeed it does for Mourinho – "Is this all about him?" What mitigates that tendency is the delivery of performances, whether in the form of cups or medals. Van Commenee has not delivered to his own lights – and so now he delivers himself to another area of the sporting arena. Wherever it is, it is likely to gain overall by his arrival.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames.

The people of Britain woke up yesterday morning not quite sure what to do with themselves. London 2012 officially in the past, the euphoric feeling fading, how would we spend the days we have become so used to filling with endless sport and British gold medals?

As London paid its final farewell to the game with its athletes' parade, one of our gold medallists was absent – Andy Murray was preparing for his showdown with Novak Djokovic in the US Open Final in New York.

And the Olympic singles gold medallist served up the most thrilling of encores for the British public, 24 hours after the Paralympic Closing Ceremony. One of the most thrilling sporting spectacles of the summer and suddenly we'd moved on. Sit down Sir Chris, Dame Katherine, and the rest of the presumably soon to be knighted Olympians and Paralympians, and arise Sir Andy.

No British player had won a grand slam since 1936, when Fred Perry triumphed, also at the US Open. Murray himself had already lost four, and was being coached by a man famous for his ability to lose on the biggest occasions. Up against a man, in Serbia's Novak Djokovic, who has five grand slam titles to his name, went 43 matches unbeaten in 2011 and appears, on the face of it, only slightly weaker than last year.

They produced an incredible spectacle. Comparing sports is hazardous at best, but there is not much like tennis when two players are playing at the top of their game. Few sports can match it, each player required to make a tactical decision every single second, and then execute it using pace, power and technique all in one. And at times, like last night, for five hours in a row. Then, every few months, there is a gladiatorial contest between two of the world's top players in the final of a grand slam.

Andy Murray serves during his US Open men's singles final match against Novak Djokovic

Unusually for a grand slam final, the first three games of the match saw the player serving facing three break points at 40-0 down. Djokovic's first serve was poor, and his game littered with errors, and before long, Murray had control of the first set, only to see Djokovic wrest back the initiative and set up a tie breaker.

And what a tiebreaker it was. No player was ever more than one "mini break" ahead, and eventually Murray had the first set point of the match. And the second, third, fourth, fifth and finally, a sixth, which he finally took. Past 11pm British time, a nation wondered how it could wake up in time for work the next morning and sit through potentially four more hours of this.

So of course the nation gave sleep the proverbial middle finger and stayed up to witness British tennis history.

In the second set Djokovic, remarkably for a man who resembles the closest tennis comes to a "human wall", collapsed. He lost two break points, Murray seemed in cruise control. Then out of nowhere Murray was beaten on his service game by the Serb, who showed trademark resilience to then take a second break and level the set up. This was typical of a match that would swing one way and back more often than a British coalition Government, and force Boris Becker to proclaim at various points each set crucial to the match. It was almost as if, whisper it quietly, each set was of equal value. Murray, having ceded such a huge advantage, managed to turn the momentum back in his favour and broke Djokovic to go two sets up.

Novak Djokovic returns a shot in excellent form

It seemed only a matter of time until the 76-year wait came to an end. Then Djokovic did what he does best. Essentially, returning everything Murray could throw at him, and producing some blistering forehand winners as he produced the most aggressive tennis of the match, coming in from his service line frequently to hunt down the British challenger. An incredible backhand winner right onto the baseline put Djokovic two breaks of serves up and cruising.

That form won Djokovic sets three and four, setting up the decider, and all the momentum was with him.

Time for another twist then. Murray, out of nowhere, produced a genuine challenge to the Serb's serve, breaking him not once but twice, only then to throw away one of his own service games and give Djokovic hope. Murray was now aggressive, fitter and Djokovic making errors again. With the Briton a break up now, Djokovic was literally out on his feet, the energy seemingly sapped from his legs. By the end, Murray's victory was inevitable, as he won the last three games of the match for a famous triumph.

Andy Murray reacts with sheer disbelief following his win over Novak Djokovic in the US Open tennis tournament

Murray's feat is all the more remarkable considering the opposition he has had to overcome. Only a few in the open era have won their first grand slam title against a player who was a serial major winner. Murray happens to be in the unfortunate position of being up against three consistent grand slam winners in Spaniard Rafa Nadal, Djokovic and Switzerland's Roger Federer, perhaps the greatest player of all time. And the three of them won their first grand slam titles against players who had never won one either.

With each grand slam, Murray has seemed to get closer. He has been banging on the door for some time now, but victory over Djokovic and Federer at the Olympics seemed to herald him reach a new level. He has been unfairly labelled a bottler by some, and many have doubted his ability to win a slam, but Murray's victory showed that he can compete and beat the very best now.

It was the perfect end to a unique summer; ironically in one of those two sports which are competed at the Olympics, but whose pinnacle is elsewhere during the calendar. But Murray is one of our great Olympians too now, and it was the perfect way for Britain to live on the first night post London 2012.

Millions lined the streets, convinced it was all over – but there was this one last golden moment. Perfectly timed due to the American weather, which put back the final from its original scheduled slot on Sunday (September 9) night, and thanks to Murray, the Olympic spirit lived on for 24 hours longer than planned.

David Gold is a reporter for insidethegames

They're changing the guard at the British Olympic Association (BOA) but the search for a successor to Lord Moynihan as chairman of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) has far wider implications.

The standing of British sport within the international Olympic Movement is as high as it has ever been and Moynihan's seven years at the BOA helm has encompassed the most successful Olympic performances by a British team in over a century.

And Lord Coe's own leadership of the London 2012 Olympic Organising Committee must have given his Presidential ambitions at the International Association of Athletics Federations a tremendous shot in the arm.

Britain can also call upon one of the most powerful men in world sport: Sir Craig Reedie, a chairman of the BOA for 13 years who was elected to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board in 2009. At the IOC Session in London he was elevated to vice-president, the first Briton to hold such a post since Lord Burghley, Marquess of Exeter, did so in the Sixties, and will lead the Evaluation Commission which assesses the Candidate Cities for 2020.

Adam Pengilly, a skeleton racer, is part of the IOC Athletes' Commission for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, emphasising growing British influence in the corridors of power of Lausanne. International Paralympic Committee chairman Sir Philip Craven is also an IOC member.

IOC President Jacques Rogge paid tribute to Britain's Olympic community at Royal Opera House when the IOC Session opened in July: "Great Britain is recognised as the birthplace of modern sport and it was here that the concept of fair play was codified across rules and regulations."

Sir Craig Reedie (left), alongside IOC President Jacques Rogge and London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe, is one of world sport's key powerbrokers

There had been British participation in three Olympics before the BOA was eventually formed in the spring of 1905, but Britons had already been closely involved with the foundation of the IOC. Amateur Athletic Association secretary Charles Herbert was described as part of "an immoveable trinity" by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the driving force behind the Olympic revival.

Lord Howard Vincent, a key figure in the development of Scotland Yard, the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police, joined the IOC at the turn of the 20th century and was determined to set up a NOC for Britain. His efforts to organise something in time for the 1904 Games in St Louis came to nothing but that summer the IOC met in London and, shortly afterwards, Vincent put his name to a circular which appeared that September.

The document read: "It is proposed to form a British Olympic Association, consisting not only of those interested in athletics for their own sake, but also of those who, recognising the international significance of the Olympic Movement, desire to assist in promoting its success."

Adam Pengilly's place on the Athletes' Commission for Pyeongchang 2018, demonstrates Britain's growing influence within the Olympic Movement

The first chairman was William Henry Grenfell, aka Lord Desborough and an MP for South Buckinghamshire. Still active as a sportsman at 50, he won a silver medal with the fencing team at the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the revival of the Olympics.

Desborough and the new BOA took on the organisation of the 1908 Olympic Games with great energy. The representatives who sat on the NOC, often described as the British Olympic Council, set about running each of the sports at the Games.

He remained as chairman of the BOA until 1913 and De Coubertin was clearly sorry to see him go, setting great store by the work of his British colleagues. "None of the National Olympic Committees has fulfilled its duties towards the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Movement better than the British Olympic Council," wrote the Frenchman.

Desborough was succeeded by another member of the nobility: the Duke of Somerset. Already in his sixties, his time in charge coincided with the coming of World War One and it was also an era when British sport almost fell out of love with the Olympic Movement. Even before hostilities began, a fundraising committee including no less a figure than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the famous Sherlock Holmes novels, was given the task of raising money to ensure British teams were better prepared for future Games.

Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle helped raise funds for British athletes' preparations in the early 20th century

Conditioned to overwhelming success by the fabulous, but freak, results in the 1908 London Olympics, many people were disappointed by Britain's relative failure – just 41 medals including 10 golds – at the 1912 Games in Stockholm.

When the fighting stopped after four tragic years, veteran Olympic hands, such as BOA secretary Reverend de Courcy Laffan, persuaded the doubters that Britain should attend the 1920 Games in Antwerp.

Another member of the 1908 Organising Committee, William Hayes Fisher, by now known as Lord Downham, had become the new BOA chairman but died a few weeks before the 1920 Olympics began. Laffan took over as emergency chief but these were uncertain times for the movement in Britain.

Many felt that the amateur regulations were being infringed by other nations, particularly through the practice of "Broken Time", an arrangement whereby competitors would be compensated for time away from their normal place of employment. Matters came to a head in the Twenties when there was a very real danger that the British might withdraw from the Olympic Movement altogether. That did not come to pass but footballers did not play at the 1924 or 1928 Games and the home associations also left FIFA, world football's governing body.

Olympic champion Lord Burghley is the BOA's longest-serving chairman with a 30-year tenure

They returned in 1936, the year the BOA had a new and energetic chairman who would prove to be the longest serving of all. Already an IOC member and an Amsterdam 1928 Olympic champion over 400 metres hurdles, Lord Burghley was only 31 when he became BOA supremo in 1936; he remained in the role for 30 years and headed the Organising Committee for the 1948 Olympics. When he eventually stood down he became President of the BOA, one of a select few to take on both roles.

The position of BOA President had been introduced in the Twenties, but this peculiarly British distinction between chairman and President still causes confusion in the wider Olympic world. Indeed, to this day the official IOC directory lists chairman Lord Moynihan as President. In fact, HRH The Princess Royal has held that particular role since 1983; she remains an active advocate of the Olympic Movement, but the chairman has more often been in the firing line – none more so than Sir Denis Follows who was at the helm in 1980.

In the wake of the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan, the British Government of the day, led by Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, tried to force the BOA to boycott the Olympics in Moscow. Follows, however, resisted, saying: "We believe that, despite its imperfections, sport is the greatest force for bringing nations together that exists in the world today. That force should be used as a bridge builder rather than a dam buster."

Sebastian Coe (centre), on his way to 1,500m gold at Moscow 1980, competed after BOA chief Sir Denis Follows defied the British Government to send a team

As a result of the efforts of Follows and others a British team did go to Moscow – among them middle-distance runner Sebastian Coe and rowing cox Colin Moynihan, both future Conservative members of Parliament.

Follows died in 1983, to be succeeded by Charles Palmer, a 10th dan judoka who had been the former's deputy at the time of the Moscow Games, and during his tenure the BOA developed into a much more modern organisation.

Palmer was, in turn, followed by Sir Arthur Gold who had spent his life campaigning against doping in sport; he was responsible for the introduction of a regulation which became known as Gold's Law and stated: "The BOA does not regard it as appropriate to select athletes or other individuals for accreditation to Team GB who have at any point committed a serious doping offence".

Current BOA chairman Lord Moynihan listens to President HRH The Princess Royal

It was a rule which lasted for almost 20 years until the decision earlier this year to force its withdrawal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

This summer, HRH The Princess Royal told her fellow IOC members of "Games built on Britain's rich and proud heritage" but also reminded them: "These Games are also about advancing the Olympic Movement and sport in general in this country and beyond as well as the past."

When the euphoria over London 2012 recedes following today's victory parade through London the search for the 16th chairman of the BOA might prove to be one of the most far-reaching choices yet made by British sport.

Philip Barker, one of the world's most renowned sports historians, is the author of The History of the Olympic Torch, published by Amberley recently. To order a copy click here.

What is the world to make of Britain? We have staged an Olympics that has surpassed expectations. We have staged a Paralympics that has done the same.

Two Opening Ceremonies and two Closing Ceremonies have celebrated some of our very particular strengths and concerns: the National Health Service; the Industrial Revolution; The Kinks; freedom of speech; Mr Bean taking the mickey out of Chariots of Fire; the Queen – yes, the Queen – taking the mickey out of herself in a filmed sequence with the latest James Bond, Daniel Craig; the Arctic Monkeys; Help for Heroes. It's an eclectic mix.

In the end, the ceremonies book-ending the two sequences of sporting action this summer have been a celebration of what the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins described as "all things counter, original, spare, strange..."

We are British. We are a bit odd. And we have embraced the Olympic and Paralympic spirit...

And in between the ceremonies, crucially, we have presented sport which has surpassed all expectation.

Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), went on record at the end of tonight's Paralympic Closing Ceremony as saying that the Games just ended were "the greatest Paralympic Games ever."

Sir Philip Craven declared London 2012 had hosted "the greatest Paralympic Games ever"

Well yes. How often have you heard officials in such cases acclaim newly completed sporting contests as anything else? "London – we salute you for the second best Paralympics ever, or perhaps, bearing in mind Sydney, the third best..." No. Not going to happen.

But he may well have been right.

Tonight's Paralympic Closing Ceremony – the last squeeze of the Olympic/Paralympic lemon – was prefaced by a bizarre sequence which resembled a children's BBC programme featuring out-of-kilter music by Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd just before he went off the rails, in which a number of figures in grey robes, issuing Telly Tubby-like hoots and sighs, wafted about to no apparent purpose – all of which was witnessed amid a baffled silence by a previously boisterous capacity crowd.

At the end of this strange affair, three thin segments of giant white inflatables were left wafting in the air beyond the main stage. They looked like pieces of onion discarded from a Big Mac – was this perhaps a sequence involving one of the key Games sponsors?

But no. Soon they agitated themselves into the symbol for the Paralympics, and the show properly got underway.

British sprinter Jonnie Peacock collects the Paralympic Flame to extinguish it as the cauldron unwinds for the final time during the Closing Ceremony

Suddenly there was a LOT of flame and fire being bandied about – more brands than, well, an Olympic marketing roster. It was, of course, a symbol of the Games. But you had to wonder if the director, Kim Gavin, had a bit of a problem with matches as a child.

There followed a hugely affecting sequence celebrating Help for Heroes, a cause particularly close to the Gavin's heart. In emotional terms, it was like turning over from CBeebies to a Channel 4 documentary.

After a team from Help for Heroes had raised a flagpole, it was climbed, with some effort, by Captain Luke Sinnott, who lost most of both legs and the use of his right arm after stepping on an IED while serving in Afghanistan in 2010.

Captain Luke Sinnott climbs to hang the Union Flag

"Let the love that the Paralympics has kindled in our hearts burn brightly as we come together as one, for the Festival of the Flame," intoned Corporal Rory Mackenzie, who lost a leg to a roadside bomb while on patrol in Afghanistan, with the sonorous depth of a Shakespearean actor.

There followed the announcement of the male and female winners of the Whang Youn Dai awards. The turbulent name of Oscar Pistorius – nominated for his groundbreaking work for the Paralympic cause, but lately troubled by reactions that some might have interpreted as bad sportsmanship – was conspicuously avoided. The men's prize went to Ireland's double Paralympic champion Michael McKillop while Kenya's Mary Nakhumicha Zakayo took the prize for women.

There then followed a Coldplay concert, featuring Rihanna and Jay-Z. It was great. What it had to do with the Paralympics was something you could discuss, but what is beyond discussion is the fact that Coldplay are Londoners, and very good, and Rihanna and Jay-Z are American, and also very good. It was beautifully staged, with all possible interest in terms of light and personnel, and the crowd, with lights flowing through and over them, loved it to bits.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Sir Philip Craven and Eduardo Paes perform the Paralympic flag handover ceremony

Eduardo Paes, the Mayor of Brazil, made a great job of waving the Olympic flag from side to side after receiving it from his London counterpart, Boris Johnson, via IPC President Sir Philip.

And, oh, we got all Brazilian as the flag of the nation which will take on the Olympic baton showed a little bit of the music and life force we can look forward to in four years' time.

Sebastian Coe, chairman of London 2012, spoke sparely and effectively as he recalled his meeting on the Tube with a Games Maker, Andrew, who turned out to be a doctor who had attended victims of the 7/7 Tube bombings the day after the announcement that London would host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

"He said he was the one to do the thanking, and as we did a very British dance over who should thank whom, he suddenly cut through it all," Coe said, adding: "He told me 'I was on duty on 7/7, that awful day. For me, this is closure. I wasn't sure if I should come or whether I could face it. I'm so glad I did. For I've seen the worst of mankind and now I've seen the best of mankind.'

Sebastian Coe addresses the crowd at the London 2012 Paralympic Closing Ceremony

"Just a few days later I met a Games Maker at the Paralympics, Emily, who told me what participating in wheelchair basketball means to her. 'It has lifted my limitations,'" she said.

"So Andrew and Emily, I'm going to have the last word. Thank you to you and all the volunteers."

Which was followed by a standing ovation.

"The Paralympics is setting records every day," Coe continued. "Sporting records, records for television audiences. In this country we will never think of sport in the same way – and we will never think of disability in the same way."

True. And after this, we will probably never think of closing ceremonies in the same way either.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames and insideworldparasport.

Before Ellie Simmonds swims her big races she listens to the Eminem song Lose Yourself.

The lyrics include these lines: "Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you wanted in one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip? You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo..."

Shortly after taking silver in the 100 metres freestyle S6 behind her big American rival and fellow 17-year-old, Victoria Arlen, the Briton, who had already established herself as the home poster girl of the London Paralympics, reflected upon her overall performance here after a Games which has seen her win two golds in world-record times and an additional bronze.

She had failed to seize everything she wanted in this one moment. She had failed to capture a third gold, letting it slip. But – emphatically – she had not missed her chance to blow.

And as for it being the opportunity of a lifetime – well, she is already talking animatedly about next year's World Championships and indeed the 2016 Rio Paralympics where the rivalry with Arlen could continue to compel attention.

"My coach and I always say that you only get one chance, so you have to get your head down and go for it," she said. "I would have loved to get the gold medal but you can't have everything. I have been on the podium for every race at these Games so I can't ask for any more.

Golden girl Ellie Simmonds couldn't quite grab victory but was satisfied with silver in the 100m freestyle S6 final

"I want to go away and chill for a while with my family and friends and then start training for the World Championships next year.

"As for Rio – you never know about injuries, and I have my education to think about, too. But I would love to go to Rio; that's my aim, although you never know.

"Victoria is 17, the same age as me, and I am sure we can push each other even further at the World Championships, and if I go to Rio and she goes to Rio."

Simmonds, whose family home is in Walsall but who lives and trains with coach Billy Pye in Swansea – with her parents boxing and coxing to make that possible – competed in what has now become, for her, a familiar patriotic din as a near-capacity crowd willed her to round off her London Games with another winning flourish.

She finished in 1min 14.82sec, a personal best by more than a second and just 0.08 off the world record set by Arlen in qualifying.

Eminen's Lose Yourself is Ellie Simmonds' big motivator before each race

Arlen, however, with her longer body and more languorous stroke, lowered that mark to 1:13.33 as she established a commanding halfway lead and then maintained her position despite a frantic final 50 metres which saw the Briton closing on her.

Immediately after the race Simmonds told Channel 4: "I'm just really chuffed. A pb by over a second. I gave it everything on that last 50 metres. I could see her but I just didn't have anything left."

It is not just success in the pool which has established Simmonds in such a position of esteem, but her positive, down-to-earth manner. Asked if, having added two golds now to the two she won as a 13-year-old at the Beijing Games, she felt it would be possible to challenge the total of 11 golds earned by British wheelchair racer Tanni Grey-Thompson, she was clearly uncomfortable with such chat.

"I'm not like Tanni Grey-Thompson," she retorted. "I don't think about getting 11 golds. I take things as they come. I've got my own goals and I do the best I can."

There was similar awkwardness, too, when the topic was raised of what she might now expect from the New Year Honours List having become the youngest person to receive the MBE at the age of 14.

"After Beijing I was honoured to get the MBE but I haven't thought about anything like that here," she responded. "I have got two golds, a silver and a bronze, and I think that's the main thing for me."

Ellie Simmonds and big rival Victoria Arlen, the winner, embrace following their 100m freestyle S6 tussle

Arlen was allowed to race against Simmonds after avoiding being reclassified by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in the run-up to the Games.

The IPC initially ruled that the American, who was left in a vegetative state for two years after contracting a neurological virus that affected her spinal cord, was ineligible to compete alongside Simmonds in the S6 class – for swimmers with a short stature, amputations of both arms or moderate co-ordination problems on one side of their body.

But Arlen successfully appealed, and what looks likely to be an enduring rivalry was set in motion.

Simmonds told Channel 4 that "Beijing is always going to be the best Games for me" but by the time she spoke to the written press she had modified that opinion, ranking the home Games, at which she had been able to see so much of her friends and family, as being on a par.

"This Games has been amazing," she said. "I don't want it to end but it is ending and I'm just looking forward to celebrating now."

That is something this shining talent richly deserves. The final gold may have slipped by, but she has already captured an esteem that is profoundly more important than a medal.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames.

Today marks one year until the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selects the host city of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The milestone comes just as a glorious summer in London draws to a close, having redefined the boundaries of global sporting celebration and – I firmly believe – having inspired a generation.

I was lucky enough to experience London 2012 firsthand. I felt the vibrancy of a cosmopolitan mega-city; the warmth of a country eager to welcome the world; and the passion of a people steeped in sport.

To sustain that atmosphere for the duration of the Olympics and the Paralympics is quite extraordinary.

My most sincere congratulations must go to the President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and to Lord Sebastian Coe and his team at London 2012. Their achievements in harnessing the spirit of a nation over the last seven years since the IOC Session in Singapore cannot be overstated.

In 2005, when the Games were awarded to London, it was not the right moment for Istanbul and Turkey. But our dedication to our Olympic dream never diminished. So while London was preparing to stage the Greatest Show on Earth, Istanbul was evolving into a city worthy of the mantle of host. The last seven years have seen a new Turkey emerge, and we have developed a new bid to match. Istanbul is bridging lessons of the past with new capabilities of the present. Now we are ready to deliver.

The city has spent an average of $1.2 billion (£750 million/€950 million) a year every year since 2005 on improvements to transport infrastructure alone. Just last month we opened the first metro line on the Asian side of the city, and the proposal for a new tunnel beneath the Bosphorus – a crucial third crossing point – has just been ratified; construction will begin next year. We have made a commitment to connect our citizens with a world-class, modernised transport network. That commitment means in 2020 a city of nearly 13 million people would be able to offer Olympic and Paralympic athletes average travel times of just 20 minutes.

Our strategic development plan has transformed Istanbul into the fifth most visited destination on the planet. In 2004, Istanbul had 26,000 hotel rooms. Now, there are 63,000. That public and private investment in tourist infrastructure has fuelled a boom in the tourism industry – in the 12 months to November 2011, there was a 16 per cent increase in visitors from abroad.

Istanbul is hoping that being European Capital of the Year will help it win its bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics

The Government has identified sports events as a key national development stimulus, and our sports industry has flourished since 2005. Turkey has hosted more than 40 major events in the last seven years, many of them in Istanbul. Now the city and its sports industry professionals are regarded internationally as trusted, credible hosts for elite sport, so much so that Istanbul was named the 2012 European Capital of Sport.

Istanbul is alive with progress and possibility, driven forward by a young, dynamic and ambitious population. The time is right, and the people here can feel it. Earlier this year, 87 per cent of people in the city were behind Istanbul 2020. Since then we have sent our largest ever delegation to the Olympic Games, and recorded our best ever performance at the Paralympic Games.

The feats of our Olympians and Paralympians have captured the imagination in Turkey; our nation's desire to bring the Games to Turkey for the first time in our history has never been greater. Just as importantly, Istanbul's capacity to realise our vision has never been greater. Now our city is ready to host the first Games in Olympic history to span two continents at once – to reach across the Bosphorus and bridge east and west, new and old, rich history and united future.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the very best of luck to our fellow Candidate Cities. I am sure we will continue this most remarkable of races in the same spirit of fair play and respect over the next twelve months.

The last seven years have been an exciting time for Turkey and for Istanbul, the City of Seven Hills. But the next 365 days will be more exciting still: a defining moment in the rejuvenation of an ancient city.

Kadir Topbaş is the Mayor of Istanbul

For Super Saturday, read Thriller Thursday. Britain's Paralympians delivered their own version of triple triumph here tonight as the golds won by Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah on the first weekend of the Olympic track and field programme were matched by Hannah Cockcroft, David Weir and Jonnie Peacock.

But for a final effort in the men's F44 discus by the American world record holder Jeremy Campbell, which pushed Dan Greaves down to silver, the gold tally would have topped even that Olympic one of recent memory. It was surely the greatest night in British Paralympic track and field history.

"The crowd has made London 2012, and I am so proud to be British," said 19-year-old Peacock after he had secured the object of his desire, the gold medal in the T46 100 metres.

For the bulk of spectators here in the Olympic Stadium the main question of the night had appeared to be this: would the Weirwolf howl again, or would the Peacock strut his stuff, preventing Pistorius from being glorious?

Jonnie Peacock lets off steam as he wins gold at the London 2012 T44 men's 100 metre final 

In the event, both home wishes came true as Weir – now indissolubly linked in the public imagination with Warren Zevon's anthemic 1978 song Werewolves of London – won his third track gold of these Games in the T54 wheelchair 800m and Peacock followed up by securing the much-hyped 100m title ahead of a field which included South Africa's defending champion Oscar Pistorius, who finished outside the medals.

Weir's earlier feats in winning gold at 5,000 and 1500m had already established him in a new persona – prompted by his team-mates – which drew upon his old nickname of Beast, a nod to his ferocious strength and commitment.

Unlike the werewolf of Zevon's imagination, Weir was not carrying a Chinese menu in his hand. Nor indeed was he mutilating little old ladies, nor drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's, as that old Werewolf of London did. Instead he was ramming the wheels on his wheelchair with every particle of energy in his body, and as he unwound his full, fearsome power in the final straight to drive himself beyond his nearest challenger, Lixin Zhang of China (who was subsequently disqualified), the air reverberated.

After crossing the line, the roar of triumph came from the Briton, and as he undid his racing vest to expose his chest you half-expected to see a thicket of fur. Ah-wooooo!! Weirwolf of London indeed!!

David Weir enthuses as he takes gold at the T54 wheelchair 800 metres during the London 2012 Paralympic Games

As the next field lined up for 100m, the crowd began a charmingly innocent chant of  "Pea-cock, Pea-cock", in the manner of school match supporters, before being shushed down by the prefect/announcer. The tension escalated as Alan Oliveira, the Brazilian who had precipitated the biggest hoo-hah since the Battle of Britain by defeating Pistorius in Sunday's (September 2) 200m final, stuttered over the line for a false start. Then the field got away cleanly – with single leg amputees Peacock and Richard Browne of the United States starting best and holding on despite the expected charge of the double amputees as they began to benefit from their greater momentum following slower starts.

Who would have thought, four, two, or even one year ago that Pistorius, the man who has bridged the Paralympic/Olympic gulf, would be an also-ran as he defended an Olympic title? Or indeed that he would not be the focus of general attention?

And so Peacock, the fresh-faced teenager from Cambridge, who lost his right leg as a five-year-old after contracting meningitis, finished three places clear of the man who had inspired him to take up athletics. Strutting his stuff indeed.

Even before the noise had died down, it rose again as Greaves extended his lead with a Paralympic record of 59.01m before running over to congratulate the young sprinter with a mighty bear hug.

The media build-up to the two climactic races of the evening's programme had contained the depth and richness of detail which has for so long been the preserve of Olympic, rather than Paralympic events. Yet another significant marker for Paralympics that has raised the bar for future Games in so many ways.

Hannah Cockcroft and the Olympic Stadium crowd celebrate her London 2012 200 metre T34 gold medal win

The 80,000 crowd had already had an opportunity to celebrate a home triumph in saluting Cockcroft's achievement as she added the women's 200m T34 title to the 100m version she had won on Friday (August 31) to register Britain's first track and field gold of the Games, when she broke the world record twice in the process.

With the camera showing her face close up on the screen, Cockcroft played her patriotic part to the full as she belted out the anthem while maintaining a broad grin – not an easy thing to do.

The spectators had also had the chance to produce one of those warm-hearted moments that occasionally emerge at major championships as they raised the roof – or at least, would have done if the Olympic stadium had one – in encouraging Yohansson Nascimento to finish in the men's T46 100m final following his earlier fall.

As the Brazilian edged his way painfully across the line in 1min 30.79sec, and slumped down immediately after it to be surrounded by anxious officials, the Stadium was a ringing ferment of top volume goodwill.

At such moments the adopted adage of modern Games' founder, Baron Pierre de Coubertin – "The most important thing...is not winning, but taking part" – appears validated. But then along come moments of naked home triumphalism to throw that assertion open to question once again...

As the national anthem sounded out twice more at the end of the programme, it would have been hard to find a better description of the two Britons at the centre of the medal ceremonies than "happy and glorious". Tonight, Weir and Peacock personified the phrase.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames and insideworldparasport.

It is one of the oldest of adages, and still one of the truest: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Many Tottenham Hotspur fans are reminded of the wisdom of this as the club, having summarily replaced one of football's most venerable and successful managers with a younger man, who failed at rivals Chelsea, make a disappointingly inauspicious start to the season.

There is a sound argument for believing that in sport as in life, things are usually best left alone.

A similar thought must be running through the minds of those employed by the British Olympic Association (BOA) at the moment.

As the gold dust settles on arguably the greatest-ever Olympic Games, in which BOA staff played such a pivotal and supportive role, the air is thick with speculation of changes and upheaval following chairman Colin Moynihan's impromptu decision to step down before completing his second term of office. This took everyone by surprise, not least Boris Johnson.

Colin Moynihan is stepping down as chairman of the British Olympic Association after seven years in the role

In fact, when the good Lord summoned a few of us to have lunch with him his favourite Asian eatery in Westminster to impart the news, by chance the London Mayor, his bike parked outside, was already tucking into his King Prawn Piri Piri at a nearby table. He almost fell off his chair when Moynihan took him to one side to tell him he was stepping down.

Boris was still shaking his head as he put on his bicycle clips and helmet before pedalling back to City Hall.

I am told that Seb Coe was similarly taken aback when Moynihan informed him he was getting on his own bike. But since then there has been mounting speculation that the London 2012 chief himself is now in pole position to take over from his fellow Tory peer when the BOA hold their annual meeting in November.

Moreover, it is rumoured that should this happen Coe will be making changes and bringing in some of his own London 2012 cohorts to run a revamped BOA.

All of which must be deeply unsettling for those in the current team which performed so ably in the build-up and during the Games, particularly in orchestrating the facilities for the athletes and their families at Team GB House.

Team GB house was the place for the media to speak to the athletes, and for family, friends and other teammates be part of the Team GB inner circle

From a personal perspective I thought the BOA's media operation ranked among the most professional of any global sporting event I have every covered.

So what is about to happen post-Moynihan? Clearly, the Paralympics are set to follow the Olympics as another glorious triumph for Coe. Because of them, he has become the most sought-after figure in sport with the BOA chair an obvious post-Games job opportunity for the overlord of the rings.

Initially he had no thoughts of taking over from Moynihan but influential voices in Whitehall and at Westminster are now urging him to stand, believing he is the ideal figure to take the organisation forward to Rio in 2016.

But I understand Coe will not tout for the role or contest an election. He would have to be installed by unanimous choice, and this may prove difficult with other candidates including Moynihan's close friend, the award-winning Sussex businessman Richard Leman, an Olympic hockey gold medallist now President of GB Hockey, already in the frame.

Sport's oarsome knights Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent and British Rowing chair Di Ellis, along with current BOA vice-chairs David Hemery and Albert Woods normally would also be in contention, as might Coe's number two at London 2012 Sir Keith Mills (although it is thought he is earmarked either to chair a new combined UK Sport/Sport England or the Premier League).

It also has to be said that there are those on the National Olympic Committee who would feel more comfortable with someone from within their own ranks to head up the organisation.

Sebastian Coe would have to be installed by unanimous choice as the BOA chairman

However, so high is Coe's stock after the 2012 Games that such an illustrious appointment will be hard to resist, and from Coe's viewpoint it could only enhance his campaign to become President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in 2015.

Should Coe take the chair he will need to drastically overhaul the cash-strapped BOA's finances – its 2012 operation was impressive but costly, worsening an anticipated seven-figure deficit – and, it is said, supervise a staffing shake-up with the future of number of highly-paid key figures under review, including director of performance Sir Clive Woodward, chief executive Andy Hunt and commercial director Hugh Chambers, all Moynihan appointees.

It would not surprise me if Woodward elected to move on to sporting pastures new. England's World Cup-winning rugby coach was Deputy Chef de Mission at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games but was overshadowed by the omnipresent Hunt, who, according to the Daily Telegraph, "at times seemed more like a cheerleader than Chef de Mission."

This may be somewhat harsh but I do feel Hunt should have been the midfield anchorman and allowed the more experienced sports-savvy Woodward to have the field-marshal role up front.

Without Moynihan's backing, Woodward may feel it is time his proven mentoring talents are given a fresh challenge.

One executive definitely departing is American Darryl Seibel, their top-notch director of communications who is returning to the United States in October. He has a most capable aide in Miriam Wilkens but if he is to be replaced there is a ready-made candidate in Jackie Brock-Doyle, Coe's own communications chief at London 2012, where sports director Debbie Jevans would also be in line for a move to the BOA should either Woodward or Hunt depart.

Jackie Brock-Doyle played a significant role in defending London 2012 in the empty seats fiasco

All of which is hugely speculative, as is Coe's own future. The BOA chair is an unpaid post, and although a reasonably wealthy man, Coe will tell you he still needs to earn a living.

This he can do to substantially by resuming his earlier role as an ambassador for Nike, and on the corporate speaking circuit with so many absorbing London 2012 after-dinner tales to relate he will be in high demand to trouser up to £25,000 ($40,000/€32,000) a time, at least putting his income on a par with Premiership footballers.

He also has a part-time occupation as David Cameron's new "sports legacy ambassador", although I doubt if even he is sure exactly what that entails.

One chair which he is now unlikely to seek is that of the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC), where a number of disaffected of licence holders, led by top promoter Frank Warren, are attempting to oust the under-fire incumbent Charles Giles.

It is now likely they switch to wooing the now available Moynihan, who, like Coe, is a former Board steward who loves the fight game.

Whatever the future holds for sport's respective lordships, it appears the gloves are off in both the boxing and Olympic rings. Seconds out!

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.

There was a rich irony in Oscar Pistorius' outraged reaction after his defeat here in the T44 200 metres final to the Brazilian who passed him in the final 25m, Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveira. But it was also a reaction which begged a very large question which still hangs over the business of amputee athletes running with the assistance of prosthetic "blades".

The defending champion whose right to run against able-bodied opposition in the World Championships and Olympic Games was only won after extended legal wrangling over the degree of mechanical advantage afforded by his own twin prosthetic "blades" insisted that his opponent had run on blades that were too long, making him much taller and offering him an unfair advantage in terms of speed.

"We are not running a fair race here, absolutely ridiculous," Pistorius told Channel 4's Sonja McLaughlan immediately after his race. "I'm not taking away from Alan's performance but I can't compete with Alan's stride length. The IPC (International Paralympic Committee) have their regulations and their regulations mean that some athletes can make themselves unbelievable high...his knee-heights are four inches higher than they should be.

"We have spoken to the IPC about the length of these blades but it has fallen on deaf ears. Guys are coming from nowhere to run ridiculous times. I don't know how you pull that back. I run at 10 metres per second and I don't know how someone comes back from eight metres behind in the home straight. It's not right."

In reply, however, IPC spokesman Craig Spence commented: "All blades are measured and Oliveira's passed the test. There has been no infringement of the rules."

Under IPC rules, prosthetic limbs are measured in the call room to ensure they are of equal length to the other limb, or prosthetic.

Oscar Pistorius cannot believe that he has lost to Brazil's Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveira in the final of the Paralympics 200m at London 2012

"Oscar has to choose – either he was beaten fair and square by a better athlete or blade design CAN radically affect your performance level," tweeted Sir Matthew Pinsent, whose own involvement with blades was thankfully confined to the means by which he propelled himself and others to four Olympic rowing golds.

Bizarrely, almost two hours after the race had been run, both the IPC and Pistorius appeared to have shifted their positions, as Spence said that a special meeting would be convened on the following day to discuss Pistorius' "concerns" without the "emotions" of the race being involved.

Pistorius, meanwhile, appeared to backtrack on his earlier comments about Oliveira as he congratulated the Brazilian on "a great performance", adding that he had shaken the victor's hand on the warm-down track after the final.

Pistorius is unique. No other athlete has transcended the barriers in the way he has by becoming the first amputee to compete in world and Olympic track and field competition.

The South African's battles off the track have been as onerous as those on it as he has had to fight for the right to party at the Olympics, overturning an initial ban in January 2008 from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), whose lawyers contended that the two prosthetic carbon fibre "blades" on which this double amputee runs gave him a "mechanical advantage" over able-bodied athletes – and perhaps also single amputees, several of whom have complained in the past about the fact that Pistorius had an effective advantage by having two prosthetics rather than one.

The scientific judgement which ruled Pistorius out of competing against able-bodied athletes was routed in May 2008 by the intervention of Professor Hugh Herr of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, whose evidence and argument persuaded the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to reverse the IAAF ruling and give Pistorius clearance to run in the world championships and Olympics.

Professor Hugh Herr (right) helped Oscar Pistorius convince the Court of Arbitration for Sport that his blades did not give him an unfair advantage and to compete against able-bodied athletes

"Perhaps there is some level of negative bias that exists in today's society," said Herr, a double amputee himself after suffering exposure on a mountain climb when he was a teenager. "When people look at Oscar Pistorius they see he has an unusual body. That's fine when he's not competitive. But when he's being competitive, it becomes threatening. In the same way that, for some people, the colour of a person's skin is threatening. There are people out there who simply have a negative bias.

"My personal view is that we should architect a society where, if a person happens to be born without fully formed legs and if that person happens to be an extraordinary talent, he or she should be allowed to compete in a sports event such as the Olympic Games assuming qualifying time are satisfied. It's the dream of almost all top athletes to go to the Olympics.

"We should allow athletes that freedom, but we should also ensure fairness in sport."

Fairness, however, is a tricky thing to establish in Paralympic sport, as the recent spate of contention over classification at these Games has underlined. The IPC is doing its best to create a level playing field, but they are dealing with hugely complex factors.

Even Herr, Pistorius' impassioned champion, does not maintain that there is certainty about Pistorius running against able-bodied competitors, or about the full nature of how prosthetics assist performance.

"There are many aspects of this question that we are still to understand," he said. "Science can never prove anything. What science can do is provide overwhelming evidence to support a hypothesis.

"The conclusion of the CAS hearing was that there was insufficient evidence to support the hypothesis that Pistorius had an overall advantage in the 400 metres."

Oscar Pistorius has raced on the same Cheetah blades for seven years now, it is claimed

One other factor became clear in the wake of Pistorius' successful appeal of 2008, which nullified comments suggesting he was benefiting from escalating technological innovations.

Herr pointed out last year that the Cheetah blades used by Pistorius have been available to athletes in their current form for 15 years, and that the South African has run on the same blades for the previous seven years.

He adds that it was made clear during the CAS hearing that the ruling was "only specific to that prosthesis", adding: "If there were any changes, we would have to undergo the same scientific testing all over again."

Less than a month after he had become the first amputee track and athlete to compete at the Olympics in this same stadium it seemed as if Pistorius was set to defend his 200m title for the second time after setting a world record of 21.30sec in the previous day's heats.

That mark had eclipsed the world record of 21.88 set by Oliveira – who won silver in the 4x400m relay at the Beijing Paralympics – earlier in the evening. In the final, however, Pistorius could only manage 21.52 as his rival, running three lanes outside him, swept past in the final 25 metres to record a personal best of 21.45.

For once, the "Blade Runner" had failed to cut a swathe through his Paralympic opposition, and the capacity crowd which had acclaimed Pistorius so loudly registered the shock victory with something close to a murmur of surprise.

Now the 25-year-old from Sandton, Johannesburg, finds himself in an awkward spot as he looks ahead to the defence of his individual 100m and 400m titles.

Oscar Pistorius has never been afraid to fight, as this Nike advert demonstrates, and he is not backing down in this row either to try to prove he is still "the fastest thing on no legs"

Amidst all the arguments about Pistorius' advantages or disadvantages, what has never been in doubt is the quality of the athlete himself, and the extraordinary courage he has displayed in taking on every challenge that has presented itself to him.

Tonight, however, he faced a different question concerning whether he was as admirable in defeat as in victory. His considered statement about Oliveira was clearly designed to erase the impact of his initial comments. But the fact that there will be an official meeting to discuss the matter makes it clear that he is pressing ahead with his case.

And the fact that the IPC are taking the matter so seriously also makes it clear what a complex matter it continues to be to ensure fair competition within the Paralympic Games.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames. 

"I've just wasted four years of my f****** life," yelled Britain's five-time Paralympic gold medallist Jody Cundy into the television cameras. Had that been Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, John Terry or even the footballer Jason Cundy, we would not have heard the end of it.

Yet Cundy, a lower leg amputee, rather than be ripped into and psychologically dissected by every member of the media with a few minutes to spare, and many of those without, will probably earn the nation's sympathy.

And rightly so. After all, Cundy's said it himself – four years of his life wasted because he was unable to get cleanly away from his starting blocks, whether due to his own mistake or a technical malfunction. The umpire ruled that it was his fault. Whichever it was, you cannot help but feel sorry for someone who has had something they have worked towards for nearly 1,500 days torn away from them in front of a home crowd at the biggest sporting event they will ever take part in.

The controversy came in the men's individual C4-5 1 kilometre time trial. The 33-year-old was visibly furious after his disqualification, throwing things at the floor in the centre of the Velodrome.

After his disqualification Jody Cundy, centre, vents his frustration

As he was forced to accept his fate, Cundy yelled and swore. He had been hoping to add to his two cycling golds from Beijing and previous three Paralympic swimming titles.

The news of Cundy's disqualification was met with dismay by the boisterous home crowd. Boos rang around the arena as Spain's Alfonso Cabello was announced the winner. This was a turn of events: earlier Cabello had brought out some of the loudest cheers for a non-British rider heard here so far for his simply brilliant performance.

Cabello smashed the world record with one of the most thrilling pieces of action of the whole day, travelling faster and faster still, recording a time of 1min 05.947sec. Britain's Jon Butterworth, racing the Spaniard for the gold, responded, as did the crowd, who roared him around the track, but he just missed out on the gold by just the narrowest of margins – 0.038 seconds.

Jon Butterworth, left, Alfonso Cabello, centre, and Xinyang Liu of China pose on the podium after receiving their London 2012 C4-5 1km time trial medals

A consolation for the British team, but they will be left to rue Cundy's disqualification and share his frustration, albeit in a more private way.

Cundy's behaviour does bring to mind an important and topical question. Why are we so keen to bash our footballers? At the Olympic Games, they were derided as we collectively wondered, why can they not be more like Olympians? Or Paralympians for that matter?

Probably because when, having been booed by his own fans, Rooney screams into a camera to register his annoyance, he gets torn to bits. Yet it is simply impossible to imagine that happening to, say, the swimmer Rebecca Adlington – as I just attempted to picture. There are some good reasons for that. One is that Adlington, even when failing to live up to her high standards and claiming "only" bronze, still receives huge cheers, as do Britain's goalball and handball teams when they inevitably suffer humiliating defeats. And Adlington, unlike Rooney, is not paid huge sums of money. She also happens to be one of the nicest people you could meet – but then I'm sure there are plenty of similarly amiable footballers who have had any semblance of personality or character drained from them by intense media scrutiny.

Wayne Rooney, left, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa 

So essentially, we treat our footballers differently and expect a different standard of behaviour from them because a) they are paid more and b) we care more about football. Most sports at the Olympics we don't even care about any more. No one was bothered that Britain was eviscerated in the basketball. We should have been, but no one expected anything else.

This is not to absolve all footballers of their errors and blame them on us. One of England's best players, Ashley Cole, wrote in his own autobiography that he almost swerved off the road in anger at being offered "just" £55,000 ($870,000/ €69,000) a week by his former club Arsenal. And we have two high profile footballers – including the former England captain John Terry – who have admitting using racist language (even if insisting that it was not meant in an offensive way) in the last year. There is no excuse for any of that, but not every player is like this. For every racist, there are probably a dozen or more who have their own charitable foundation.

John Terry arives at court regarding racist abuse allegations in July, 2012 

So it may not be fashionable to say it, but we are probably a bit harsh on footballers. The reason we are so disappointed in their behaviour is because football is, frankly, our favourite sport – not because footballers are uniquely annoying. Our second and third favourite sports are cricket and rugby, and we get just as irritated with their antics when they misbehave, like the England team did at the Rugby Union World Cup last year.

Usain Bolt is only loved so universally in this country because athletics is not as popular as these sports. Quite frankly, if Bolt had been a footballer for Manchester United for the last five years, he would probably be quite divisive. He has an arrogance that everyone loves because, let's be honest, it's the good kind of arrogant. It's the José Mourinho form – where you proclaim yourself the best, and it's actually true. But football fans are so fickle, tribal and tense, that they hate any form of arrogance. Put that in the context of an intense football rivalry with the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City fans, and if Bolt was really playing for United, you could imagine him getting roundly booed when he was playing away to these teams.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt gestures as he celebrates his three gold medals after winning the men's 4X100 relay final at the London 2012 Olympic Games

And we jump on our footballers because they are paid so much. Why is this? Because there is so much money in the game. Why is there so much money? Because we are addicted to it, something Sky Sports have so brilliantly exploited, as have our clubs. As much as we may complain about ticket prices, we don't do what the Germans or French do and actually refuse to pay what we are asked to stump up.

Anger at player wages has always mystified me. In France, there was criticism of Zlatan Ibrahimović's salary when he signed for Paris Saint-Germain. Or to put it another way, politicians were effectively having a go at a member of the Qatari royal family for buying one of their football clubs, signing a Swedish player and adding millions to the Government's annual budget to pay for the rest of France's healthcare and pensions. Given our own tax rates, the public effectively make more from a footballer's salary than the player does every week. It may be irritating, if like me, you are an Arsenal fan and your club is consistently gazumped by wealthy foreign billionaires in signing the best players. But in terms of the public good, surely large player wages are a good thing, especially when so many of the world's richest teams are English. Maybe it is just me, but it seems preferable for the Government to have more money to spend than to bring footballers a little closer to our level economically.

Jody Cundy reacts furiously after being given a DNF (Did not Finish) by London 2012 judges 

Oh yes, the Paralympics. So I don't blame Cundy at all for his reaction. If I was in his situation, I may well have done the same. It is impossible to imagine how frustrated he must be right now. But it did make me think, don't we just treat our footballers with a bit too much scorn, basically because we care more and pay more to see them do what they do? And that is a choice we make – not them.

David Gold is a reporter for insidethegames. You can follow him on twitter here.

From my privileged seat at the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony, I saw spectacular fireworks, enthralling dancing and an inspiring parade of the world's best disabled athletes.

It was truly superb and a fitting curtain-raiser for what I am sure will be a great Games.

But through all those bright lights, I saw clearly the shining star and show-stealer of the event.

It was Professor Stephen Hawking.

It had been confirmed shortly before the Ceremony began that Britain's greatest living scientist would make a rare public appearance for the historic event.

However, it still gave me goosebumps when the most famous disabled man on the planet took to the stage, causing a deafening roar from the 80,000 spectators in attendance at the Olympic Stadium.

It felt most appropriate that a man who has been paralysed for the majority of his life due motor neurone disease could deliver words via a speech generating device with the force of inspiration that no able-bodied person in the world could possibly match.

Professor Stephen Hawking took centre stage at the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony

"Look up at the stars, and not down at your feet," said the 70-year-old from Oxford.

"Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist.

"Be curious."

What followed was a truly dazzling Opening Ceremony from the hugely talented directors Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings but for me, nothing could match Hawking; one of the most iconic symbols of human triumph over adversity.

His voice appeared throughout the Ceremony at various intervals as he delivered a series of new statements and messages that guided us through the show.

But it was his final address that was perhaps his most moving.

"The Paralympic Games is about transforming our perception of the world," he said.

"We are all different, there is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit. What is important is that we have the ability to create."

Stephen Hawking was just 22 when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease

All this came from a man with full mobility until he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at 22.

Despite the disease slowly debilitating his body his mind remained brilliant and his key scientific works remain some of the most important in history.

His genius has earned him comparisons with Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton and given him unlikely celebrity status, allowing him to appear in The Simpsons and Star Trek.

But his inspirational appearance last night is perhaps his most high-profile to date.

"I was delighted and honoured to be in the Ceremony," he said afterwards.

"It was a real pleasure to welcome the Paralympic athletes to London for such a special event.

"To use this stage to show the world that regardless of differences between individuals, there is something that everyone is good at, is very important."

Perhaps the most striking thing about his involvement is that Hawking is not a Paralympian.

He is not even an athlete.

Stephen Hawking led viewers on an "exquisite journey of discovery" during the ceremony

But he was able to illustrate more than anyone in the Olympic Stadium why perceptions of disability must change.

The next two weeks of the London 2012 Paralympic Games will help reinforce that message as the world's greatest disabled athletes provide us with further inspiration through their displays of courage and true sporting brilliance.

Hopefully the whole nation will also get fully behind the Paralympics to help them replicate the huge success of the Olympics.

The support of the fans and everyone watching the Games is vital because, as Hawking showed, you do not have to be a Paralympian to be a big part of the Paralympic Games.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames and insideworldparasport

As the Paralympic Flame continues its journey today from Stoke Mandeville, the spiritual home of the Paralympic Movement, to Stratford, which will be the scene for 11 more days of world-class sport following this evening's Opening Ceremony, everyone connected with Team GB is offering our full support to our good friends, colleagues and "Our Greatest Teammates" at ParalympicsGB.

There is no doubt in my mind that the passionate support of the home crowd inspired Team GB's athletes to achieve our greatest medal haul for over a century – 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze medals – during the Olympic Games.

So let's reignite that spark and get right behind ParalympicsGB with the same level of enthusiasm and support that we experienced during the Olympics.

Over 12 months ago we decided to join forces with the British Paralympic Association (BPA) to bring Team GB and ParalympicsGB under one banner – Our Greatest Team – with a shared sense of national pride and a shared ambition to make the most of this once in a lifetime opportunity for British sport.

With the support of the nation behind us, Our Greatest Team at London 2012 is 900 athletes, 60 million strong. As we share our central London office space with the BPA, we have seen firsthand the detailed planning and preparation that has gone into delivering ParalympicsGB to the Games and I would like to personally congratulate BPA chief executive Tim Hollingsworth, ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission Craig Hunter, the entire support team and the athletes of ParalympicsGB – and wish them all the very best for success during the exciting days that lie ahead.

ParalympicsGB is our "Our greatest teammates" claims Andy Hunt, who was the Chef de Mission of Team during the Olympics

As announced earlier this week, following the Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony, the athletes of Team GB and ParalympicsGB will join together for the Our Greatest Team Parade through the streets of London on September 10.

This will be a fantastic finale to an unforgettable summer of sport and will be a chance to recognise and celebrate the achievements of the outstanding group of athletes who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 2012 Games. Importantly, it also gives the members of Team GB and ParalympicsGB an opportunity to show their appreciation and gratitude for the extraordinary support they have received.

Before that, I urge you to give ParalympicsGB and the Paralympic Games your full support over the next 11 days. I am certain that the Great British public will once again deliver a gold medal performance in supporting Our Greatest Team at London 2012.

Andy Hunt was the Team GB Chef de Mission at London 2012 and chief executive of the British Olympic Association (BOA)

Anyone who has ever witnessed the Klitschko brothers fight in Germany will tell you that they are not attending a boxing contest, simply an event. Ecstatically cheering audiences, often up to 50,000, who pack the stadiums to capacity have little interest in who Vitali or Wladimir are fighting.

They are simply there for the spectacle, a gala night out. The idolised heavyweight champions could be playing pat-a-cake with one of the seven dwarfs for all they care. They are simply there for the spectacle.

It is the same for the Wimbledon final. Wasn't it Jimmy Connors who once said that the centre court customers would pay to watch it contested between two orangutans?

You get the drift.

My hope is that the crowds that will fill the Olympic Stadium in the coming 12 days won't be similarly doing so out of instinctive voyeurism, curiousity or because being there suddenly has become the vogue on the coattails of the Olympics themselves.

But that they are turning out in droves because they want to be there for the sport and not for the show.

The Paralympic Games have fought long and hard for recognition on merit as a sports event in itself and not as a adjunct to its able-bodied brother. London 2012 is the opportunity to demonstrate to the world that they really have come home.

After almost losing her life in 2005, London 7/7 terrorist bombing victim Martine Wright is now representing Britain in the sitting volleyball at the London 2012 Paralympic Games

This is indeed an extraordinary happening. Some 4,200 competitors from 166 countries have been arriving in London's East End many, but by no means all in wheelchairs, on crutches, blind or limbless with stories that tug at the heart strings.

So many in fact, that one doesn't know where to start, but the one etched most deeply into my consciousness is that of Martine Wright (now Wiltshire) the subject of the most poignant interview I have ever had in sport. A couple of years ago she told me of her miraculous recovery from the London terrorist bombing on July 7, 2005 - the day after London were awarded the Games - when she lost both her legs and was the last one to be rescued from the Circle Line tube train after losing three quarters of her body's blood content. She talked of her dream of becoming a Paralympian and on Friday (August 31) she will be representing ParalympicsGB in the preliminary rounds of sitting volleyball.

Hers is just one of the incredible tales of fortitude among the 301 British Paralympians. Everywhere you turn as you walk though the Games Village, there are moving tales, not only of the unexpected but the unimaginable from home and overseas.

There's the South African swimmer whose lower right leg was bitten off by a shark he had deliberately taunted to get it away from his little brother. A Rwandan volleyball team whose players lost their limbs fighting on opposite sides of the civil war.

South Africa's Achmat Hassiem who saved his brother's life in 2006, losing his lower right leg in the process, and who now hopes to win a medal this summer in London 

It seems ironic that so many of these athletes are here because of something that is the very antithesis of sport – war.

Like Jon-Allan Butterworth, the cyclist who lost his arm in a rocket attack while serving in Iraq in 2007. Or Private Derek Derenalagi, the discus thrower who lost his legs the same year, when his vehicle was blown up by two Taliban mines. Or Captain Nick Beighton, leader of the rowing squad, who lost his legs in 2009 when he stepped on a mine in Afghanistan.

Others are here not by accident, but because of one. In 2005, Tom Aggar, then aged 21, a 6ft 3in tall rugby player, fell 12 foot on to concrete in the dark during a party. He awoke paralysed from the waist down, knowing that his life had changed forever. Three years later, he was rowing in the Beijing Paralympics, and won gold in the single scull event.

Stefanie Reid was a rugby-mad 15-year-old when she lost her right foot in a speedboat accident. She nearly died from loss of blood, but since retrained in athletics, partly because her prosthetic limb was considered a hazard for other rugby players. Now, she has christened it "the cheetah".

Tom Aggar during an adaptive rowing training session ahead of the London 2012 Paralympics 

Then there are those who have battled against adversity from birth, like schoolgirl Jade Jones the 16-year-old wheelchair racing protégée of the most iconic British Paralympian of them all – Tanni Grey-Thompson. Jones was born without a thigh, but has emerged as a potential star of the Games.

I could go on... and on. Many of these stories have already unfolded and there will be scores more to come as the Games progress. It is virtually impossible to meet so many of these athletes and hear of their against all odds triumphs without finding a lump in the throat or a tear in the eye.

But this is precisely the reaction they do not want.  All they seek is normality and to be given the same serious appreciation as the Olympians who have preceded them.  They need our cheers, not our tears and a simple acknowledgement that what we are about to enjoy is not some sort of freak show but a genuine spectacle of sport.

Wayne Rooney's gashed leg may temporarily have pushed Oscar Pistorious' "bionic" ones off the back pages but once the Games are under way the unabashed fervour which swamped those earlier 17 days of glory surely will be revisited.

Jade Jones who will be competing in London 2012's 400, 800 and 1500 metre T54 wheelchair racing events

In some ways it does seem a shame that the world's two biggest sporting events have to be treated separately. I am not suggesting that, as with the Commonwealth Games, the Paras should be interwoven with the Olympics. Clearly that is not practical. But did they really have to extinguish the Olympic Flame on August 12, only for it to be re-lit this week? At least keeping the flame alive would have made it seem more like a Games of two halves rather than two totally separate entities.

Yes, of course, they are different; they have to be by necessity. As different as the two men who respectively preside over them.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Jacques Rogge, 72, former Belgian surgeon, rugby player and yachtsman, highly respected and royally treated, if not overburdened with charisma, backed by a retinue of courtiers from palatial headquarters in Lausanne. A man of carefully considered words, he is due to step down next year.

The equally autonomous International Paralympic Committee (IPC) have Britain's Sir Philip Craven, a 62-year-old blunt-speaking Lancastrian who lives in a modest bungalow near Bolton who became a wheelchair basketball player after breaking his back in a climbing accident. President since 2001, he hopes to go on to Rio in 2016, and a successful 2012 should secure that aim.

Sir Philip Craven awards the gold medal to the winner of the Paralympic equestrian freestyle event at Beijing 2008

He is a man of candour, not afraid to express opinions, and makes it clear that he is not altogether approving of the curiously patronising section in the British Paralympic Association's (BPA) media guide which warns against athletes being "patronised or pitied" (somewhat patronising in itself) and gives detailed instructions telling journalists how they should talk to people with disabilities, which phrases to use and those to avoid.

"That is ridiculous," says Sir Philip. "How do you talk to them? You talk to them as you would anyone else."

Quite. Which is why we should look at the Paralympic Games and those who play them with the same objectivity and critical assessment of performance that we did in the Olympics.

Because while what we see may be different, there is only one common denominator: it is called sport.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.