How to get it? Just collect $50 pledges on your pledgecard! Hurry while stock lasts! You have a choice of 2 designs.

DESIGN 1


DESIGN 2




               CLOSEUP OF ARTWORK IN DESIGN 2

The logo of the 2012 Summer Paralympics was recenly unveiled on 4th June 2007. Usually, the logo of the Olympic and Paralympics are totally different. for the 2012 games, its organisors broke all convention by having the logos of the Olympic and Paralympic Games be similar to each other.

          

The Paralympic logo         The Olympic logo

Personally, it would have much easier to identify the logos if they were different and not similar to each other.

Circle the globe in a day?

Do it - on wheels or on foot - and help raise funds for a worthy cause

By Lynette Lim
lynette@sph.com.sg



They plan to do so many laps around a track, it will be enough to go around the world.

All in one day, at one stadium.

And all for the cause of sports for the disabled.

The Singapore Volunteer Corps (SVC) {correction: Student Volunteer Corps (Singapore)} and Jurong Junior College (JJC) aim to get 10,000  people to collectively do 100,000 laps of a 400m track.

That adds up to 40,000 km, roughly the circumference of the earth.

Participants can walk or run, or use skates, cycles or wheelchairs.

The event, called Around the World in a Day, will be held at Toa Payoh Stadium on 15 Jul.

It is part of the Olympic Dream, a series of three fund-raising events being held over three years.

You can donate any amount through pledge cards, though you can also participate without paying anything.

PUBLIC AWARENESS

Organisers hope to raise a total of $500,000 to support programmes under the SVC and Singapore Disability Sports Council, a partner in this event.

The funds will go towards promoting youth volunteerism and public awareness of disabled sports and help disabled athletes achieve sporting excellence in the 2008 Paralympics.

In addition to donations from participants and members of the public, they are also getting some corporate sponsorship.

In the first instalment of the Olympic Dream last year, disabled and able-bodied swimmers completed a total of 5,000 laps at the Singapore Polytechnic pool, raising $20,000.

This year's event has been a valuable learning experience for JJC students on the organising committee.

There are 10 first-year students on the committee, all of whom are community service leaders in the JC. {correction: There are 10 first-year students on the executive committee, all of whom are community service leaders and student leaders in the JC.}

And 20 other first-year student leaders are involved in tasks like banner painting. {correction: And 20 other first-year student leaders are involved in the various sub-committees, namely publicity, marketing and logistics & programme. 4 first-year classes are involved in tasks like banner painting and will be executing the programme on the day of the event.}

Said Marcus Woo, 17, the head of logistics and operations: "Previously we have always been working with able-bodied people, but this time, we have to cater for the disabled."

"I know we will take back many memories from this experience."

The entire school cheered and clapped when Muhammad Firdaus Bin Nordin, one of Singapore's brightest hopes of clinching a gold medal at the Paralympics 2008, paid them a visit.

He was welcomed by posters and banners placed around the school compound.

Firdaus, 19, trains three hours a day, five days a week in his sport - wheelchair racing.

He suffers from spina bifida, a defect in his spine, which has left him paralysed from the abdomen down.

DETERMINATION

Said Firdaus, "In sports, you go through both happiness and sadness. You have to have determination to get up when you fall and keep moving forward."

"Sports changed my life - it made me healthier and more confident."

Firdaus, who will be wheeling some laps at Toa Payoh Stadium for the event, is one of the athletes who will benefit from the funds raised.

Said Mr Ivan Chin, an SVC volunteer and co-chairman of Olympic Dream 2007: " Sports will allow the disabled to come out of their shell, into the society and enjoy themselves."

So, whether it's on a kick-scooter, skateboard, rollerblades or wheelchair, or you are simply going to hoof it on your own, sign up at www.svc.org.sg.


Alternatively, you can just go to the stadium on 15 Jul to participate.

The official flag-off, by Mr Teo Ser Luck, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, will be at 8.30am.

However, participants would already have started doing the laps at midnight.

A certificate of completion will be awarded to those who complete 10 laps of walking, running, and wheeling or 20 laps of roller-blading and cycling.

A medal will be awarded to those who finish 50 laps of running, walking and wheeling, or 100 laps of cycling and blading.