In just five days, on August 29, London's Olympic Park springs back to life for the public with the opening of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Actually, the park has been buzzing for a few days now as hundreds of athletes from all over the world have been arriving. And tickets are just as hotly sought after as Olympic tickets were a few weeks ago.
The Paralympics has its own symbolic flame and this year four groups of disabled and able-bodied Scouts climbed mountains to light it. Each group hiked to the top of the highest peak in one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom - Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland, Ben Nevis in Scotland, Mount Snowdon in Wales and Scafell Pike in England - to ignite a flame in true Scouting fashion, with a flint. The four flames will be brought together next Tuesday at Stoke Mandeville Hospital - the spiritual home of the Paralympic Games - before being carried to the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday for the opening ceremony.
If you don't have tickets for what, after the Olympic Games, is the second largest multi-sport event ever held in the UK, you can still catch up with the events at free live screens around the country. In London, the main screen for viewing Paralympics events will be in Trafalgar Square. Many of the same sites that screened the Olympic Games will also be screening the Paralympic Games but it's best to check the website for an up-to-date list of Paralympics Live sites.
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