Paralympic heroes #5 and #6: Iliesa Delana and Łukasz Mamczarz

In Monday's F42 high jump final, Iliesa Delana and Łukasz Mamczarz cleared 1.74m to earn gold and bronze medals for Fiji and Poland. They each have one leg, and they each cleared the bar by hopping up and somersaulting over it. They won their medals competing against two-legged athletes with equivalent disabilities.

No textbook technique; no bouncy prosthetics. Fuck you Dick Fosbury, and the flop you flopped in on.

F42 is the most severe class of non-visual disability where the high jump is contested. The staggering world record of 1.96m belongs to Canadian legend Arnold Boldt, who also only has one leg and won high jump golds at five consecutive Paralympics (not to mention two more golds and a silver in the long jump). Click here to see Arnie somersault over 1.85m - all the more impressive because he managed to keep his glasses on!

The F42 high jump is absolutely captivating and puts its able-bodied equivalent in the shade - if you missed it, Channel 4's highlights are available here, and we've included some wobbly footage of Delana's winning jump at the bottom of this post. It's completely redefined our frame of reference to the point where we couldn't care less how high able-bodied athletes can jump any more: one-legged somersaulting is where it's at. So change the Olympic programme! Reset the records! Burn effigies of Javier Sotomayor's tibias! Perhaps that's going a touch far, but let's at least give these guys the acclaim and attention they so richly deserve.

Paralympic hero #4: David Wetherill

A British Class 6 table tennis player ranked fifth in the world underperformed and was knocked out in the second round at the Paralympics.

Nothing much to shout about there, you might think. So far, so British. And you'd be right, if David Wetherill hadn't managed to produce THE BEST SHOT EVER IN ANY RACQUET SPORT in the process of losing the decisive fourth game. If you think we're exaggerating, consider this: when was the last time you saw officials and opposing coaches applauding a player during a match? As one-hit wonders go, he's the Joe Dolce of ping pong; the Norman Greenbaum of wiff waff.

Much as we'd love to eulogise, we won't spoil the shot for you just in case you haven't already seen it. Once you've taken a moment to prepare your mind for a good old-fashioned boggling, click play below and get ready to catch your jaw when it drops.

Paralympic hero #3: Matt Stutzman

On paper, Matt Stutzman comes across as a dyed-in-the-flannel redneck. The official London 2012 website lists his hobbies as "cars", and by all accounts he loves nothing (or perhaps more accurately nothin') more than huntin', shootin' and fishin'. His personal website looks like a cry for help from a kidnapped designer circa 1999. He's from Iowa, for crying (cryin') out loud. It's fair to say we weren't expecting - or even expectin' - to be friends.

Then we saw him win a silver medal in compound archery by gripping a bow between his prehensile toes and aiming arrows with his mouth. You see, Matt Stutzman is a double arm amputee. And just like the swimmers we mentioned in our last post, he's competing against and beating rivals with arms, despite only having picked up a bow for the first time two years ago. So while he might be mostly armless, he's positively lethal to bullseyes and bunny rabbits. We just hope he isn't familiar with the plot of the Jonathan Creek pilot…

Sadly we couldn't find any footage of him in action at the Paralympics, but we do rather like the below interview conducted as part of Team USA's preparations for the Games. It starts a little slowly, but don't be deterred by his riveting tales of hole-punch debris and doorknobs - the slow-motion shots capturing his technique are spectacular. By the time he delivers his inspirational closing message, we're sure you'll want to join us in cheering him all the way to gold in Rio.

Paralympic heroes #1 and #2: Zheng Tao and Iaroslav Semenenko

We hate swimming backstroke. It seems unnecessarily awkward and splashy, you can't see where you're going and the timing is tricky.

We have four limbs. With apologies to ZZ Top, we just don't know how to use them.

Double arm amputees Zheng Tao and Iaroslav Semenenko finished first and fourth in the men's S6 100m backstroke final on Thursday evening, competing against swimmers with more limbs whose equivalent disabilities still allowed them to use a much more recognisable backstroke technique. Zheng also broke the world record.

It's well worth checking out the whole race below, despite Barcelona breaststroke bronze medallist Nick Gillingham's discordantly soporific commentary. Zheng is in lane 5, Semenenko in lane 3. Do keep a sympathetic eye on Semenenko as he battles bravely for bronze against a German swimmer whose arms give him a clear advantage at the finish line.

Just thinking about the incredible core strength and balance required to overcome their handicap in this event, not to mention the dedication and tenacity that brought them here, is pretty overwhelming. Zheng and Semenenko's achievements will stick with us as one of the enduring images of London 2012.

The Sporting Owl #7

The seventh podcast from The Sporting Owl is packed with a preponderance of Paralympics ponderings. After bidding a fond farewell to Andrew Strauss, Tom and Ria guide you through some of the exciting events and superstar athletes to watch out for at the BIGGEST PARALYMPICS EVER!

Paralympics sports for dummies, by dummies

We at Owl Towers are looking forward to the forthcoming Paralympics for a veritable plethora of reasons, but primarily because we'll get to feast our beady eyes on some sports we're less familiar with. For those as uneducated as we are, we thought we'd do the public service of providing you with a guide to Paralympics-only sports in ten words or fewer.

BOCCIA - like bowls, teams or individuals throw balls at a jack.

FOOTBALL (FIVE-A-SIDE) - visually-impaired teams in blindfolds try to score. Crowd silent.

FOOTBALL (SEVEN-A-SIDE) - players have cerebral palsy. Teams comprised of varying disability classifications.

GOALBALL - like handball, with visually-impaired teams in blindfolds. Crowd silent.

POWERLIFTING - competitors classified by weight, try to bench-press heaviest barbell.

SITTING VOLLEYBALL - body part between bum and shoulder touches court during shot.

WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL - five-a-side, must throw/bounce ball after two pushes of wheelchair.

WHEELCHAIR FENCING - wheelchairs fastened to platform, competitors fence foil, sabre or epee.

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY - Murderball. Players must pass/score a try in ten seconds.

WHEELCHAIR TENNIS - Same as tennis, but ball can bounce twice, not once.

If you fancy a more in-depth guide detailing every sport in the Paralympics, check out the Guardian's very informative article here.  Once you've done that, you can make yourself sound like a true expert by boning up on the potential stars of the Games, making you an asset to any Opening Ceremony party.