Ahead of these Games, one of the things we were all worried about was whether they’d have the crowds. Whether Paris could deliver that same energy and enthusiasm we remember from London. I think we now know the answer. On Monday I was at the SH6 para-badminton final between Krysten Coombs and Charles Noakes, and it was like: wow. There were 7,000 people there, they were raising the roof, they were singing the Marseillaise, they were on their feet waving flags when their guy came in, they had giant pictures of his head.
I have to say, I really felt sorry for Coombs. He came into this cauldron of noise where all the warmth was for the French athlete and I could see he was thinking: “How do I manage the crowd?” That’s something we’re not taught as Paralympians. Often our sports are just not played in front of big crowds. The Paralympics is only every four years and even then, in the past, when you played in front of crowds they just cheered for everyone. Now you go to places and they don’t care if a guy’s a Paralympian or disabled, if he’s not from their country, if he’s not on their team, that guy’s getting booed.
