IPC President Thrilled “Games are Coming Home.”

Games Coming Home, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Sir Philip Craven is thrilled that this year Paralympic Sport returns to the UK, its spiritual home, with this summer’s Paralympic Games in London starting on 29 August. The 11 days of competition in the British capital will see almost 4,200 athletes battle it out across 20 sports in 15 different venues. They will be the biggest Paralympic Games and Sir Philip Craven is excited about what lies ahead.

“I think 2012 could be the biggest ever year for Paralympic Sport,” Sir Philip Craven told www.ParalympicSport.tv “For summer sport, we have had Sydney, Athens and the greatest Games ever in Beijing, but London learns from all these experiences. It is the home of Paralympic Sport. It’s where it all started at Stoke Mandeville back in the late forties.

“And so, the Games are coming home.”

Paralympic Sport is currently enjoying exponential growth with more and more people getting involved. London 2012 will see the highest number of athletes competing in any Games and Sir Philip Craven believes this will have knock-on results. “The level of competition and the standards have never been higher,” he said. “And the number of countries that want to be top-dog is incredible. I am not sure if anyone will knock China off the top of the medal table in London, but there are a lot of countries going to have a go.

“We are going to have more countries competing than ever before, so there are many records that are going to be broken.

“Even before the athletes start competing there is going to be fabulous Games, people are going to have a great time and a lot of fun in London. Everyone is really enthusiastic.” To see the full interview with Sir Philip Craven looking ahead to 2012, together with his thoughts of what took place last year, please visit www.paralympicsport.tv

Tickets for the London 2012 Paralympic Games are still available and can be purchased at www.paralympictickets.com