GREAT BRITAIN has started the Paralympic Games brilliantly, winning seven medals including two gold on the opening day of action.
Cyclist Sarah Storey was the star of the show, setting a world record in the qualification stages of the women's individual pursuit before catching her opponent Anna Harkowska in the final with still more than half the race to run.
There was gold too for Jonathan Fox in the men's 100m backstroke S7 category. Just like Storey, Fox had also broken a world record in the heats, setting a new best time of 1:09.86, before winning the final in 1:10.46.
Mark Colbourne won Britain's first medal of the Games, a silver in the velodrome in the men's 1km time trial, and there were two swimming silvers from Nyree Kindred in the women's 100m backstroke S6 category and Hannah Russell in the women's 400m freestyle S12.
Finally, on a glorious opening day, there were bronze medals in judo for Ben Quilter and in powerlifting for Zoe Newson, meaning Britain has already made a good start towards achieving its minimum target of 103 medals overall.
The medal rush is expected to continue throughout the Games as, on an international scale, Paralympics GB is on a different level even when compared to the excellent efforts of Team GB at the Olympics.
Britain has a proud history at the Paralympic Games, finishing second in the medal table on the last three occasions, and never below fifth in all 13 previous official gatherings.
Further than that, the Paralympics can actually be seen as British, given that their true birthplace is at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire.
There, a Jewish German doctor by the name of Sir Ludwig Guttman, who had fled Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in 1939, came to treat victims of World War II.
On his arrival, Sir Ludwig was dismayed to find the spinal injury ward was full of heavily-sedated, paralysed soldiers, all confined to their beds, and awaiting their inevitable deaths.
Sir Ludwig concluded that this would simply not do and, after treating their bedsores and infections, he encouraged the men out of their beds and into the sporting arena.
And so, in 1948, the Stoke Mandeville Games were officially born with 16 competitors - 14 men and two women - taking part in an archery competition.
In 1952, a Dutch team participated, making it an international event for the first time, and the ninth international staging - in Rome in 1960 - is now considered to be the first Paralympic Games.
Of course, the event moved on greatly since those early days and, in 2012, there are now 503 gold medals awarded in 20 sports with all sorts of different categories.
Thankfully, there is some help out there: the BBC, despite its lack of television rights, seems to have the best online guide of those categories, and it also has comprehensive radio coverage on Five Live.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 is the place to go for actual televised transmission of the Games. Already, though, the broadcaster's coverage has had its critics.
The biggest complaint so far seems to have been over the number of adverts shown during the Opening Ceremony on Wednesday.
But, while it is acceptable that a commercial station should show advertisements for sponsor reasons, a more valid objection has been the needless amount of chatter from the studio between - and sometimes during - the events.
Having said that, some of the studio interludes have been helpful with decent explanations often offered of the intricacies of each event.
On balance, Channel 4 has been more stodgy than completely amateur, and what was actually covered of the Opening Ceremony was still made to feel pretty special.
Indeed, more than 11m people tuned into the extravaganza at the Olympic Stadium, an extraordinary figure for the Paralympics and for Channel 4, too.
Those who were watching would have seen many brilliant and poignant moments, the best and most poignant of which came appropriately at the climax.
For, the Paralympic Torch - which had been reported to be late due to demand to see it on its route to Stratford - eventually arrived in the Olympic Stadium on a zip wire.
More impressively still, it was brought on the wire into the arena by a former Royal Marine Joe Townsend, who lost both his legs in Afghanistan. It has been reported that he is a hopeful for the ParalympicsGB team in Rio 2016 in the triathlon.
The torch was then lit by Margaret Maughan, Britain's first ever Paralympic gold medallist - and thus, the past and the future of the Paralympics were brought together perfectly.
Finally, chairman of organiser LOCOG Sebastian Coe spoke to mark the start of another truly 12 great days in London.
Lord Coe said: "It is my great honour to say welcome home to the Paralympic Games", and he added, "Prepare to be inspired, prepare to be dazzled, prepare to be moved."
Even after day one, it can be pretty much guaranteed that all of those things have already happened.
Indeed, it is already quite clear that this is going to be another amazing dozen days in London.
GREAT BRITAIN MEDALLISTS AT THE 2012 PARALYMPICS
GOLD
Archery Danielle Brown Women's individual compound - open
Athletics
Jonnie Peacock Men's 100m T44
Hannah Cockcroft (two) Women's 100m T34, Women's 200m T34
Richard Whitehead Men's 200m T42
Aled Davies Men's discus F42
David Weir (four) Men's 800m T54, Men's 1500m T54, Men's 5000m T54, Men's marathon T54
Mickey Bushell Men's 100m T37
Josie Pearson Women's discus F51-53
Cycling
Sarah Storey (four) Women's individual pursuit C5, Women's 500m time trial C4-5, Women's road time trial C5, Women's road race C4-5
Mark Colbourne Men's individual pursuit C1
Neil Fachie [Barney Storey (pilot)] Men's 1km time trial B
Anthony Kappes [Craig MacLean (pilot)] Men's individual sprint B
David Stone Mixed road race T1-2
Equestrian
Sophie Christiansen, Deborah Criddle, Lee Pearson & Sophie Wells Team championship
Natasha Baker (two) [Cabral] Individual championship test grade II, Individual freestyle test grade II
Sophie Christiansen (two) [Janeiro 6] Individual championship test grade Ia, Individual freestyle test grade Ia
Rowing
Pam Relph, Naomi Riches, David Smith, James Roe & Lily van den Broecke (cox) Mixed coxed four LTAMix4+
Sailing
Helena Lucas 2.4 mR - 1 person keelboat
Swimming
Jonathan Fox Men's 100m backstroke S7
Eleanor Simmonds (two) Women's 400m freestyle S6, Women's 200m individual medley SM6
Jessica-Jane Applegate Women's 200m freestyle S14
Heather Frederiksen Women's 100m backstroke S8
Oliver Hynd Men's 200m individual medley SM8
Josef Craig Men's 400m freestyle S7
SILVER
Archery Mel Clarke Women's individual compound - open
Athletics
Stefanie Reid Women's long jump F42-44
Graeme Ballard Men's 100m T36
Libby Clegg [Mikail Huggins (guide)] Women's 100m T12
Paul Blake Men's 400m T36
Bethy Woodward Women's 200m T37
Dan Greaves Men's discus F44
Shelly Woods Women's marathon T54
Boccia
David Smith Individual BC1
Cycling
Mark Colbourne (two) Men's 1km time trial C1-3, Men's road time trial C1
Aileen McGlynn [Helen Scott (pilot)] Women's individual B 1km time trial
Neil Fachie [Barney Storey (pilot)] Men's individual sprint B
Jon-Allan Butterworth (two) Men's 1k time trial C4-5, Men's individual pursuit C5
Shaun McKeown Men's individual pursuit C3
Jon-Allan Butterworth, Darren Kenny, Rik Waddon Mixed team sprint C1-5
Karen Darke Women's road time trial H1-2
Equestrian
Lee Pearson [Gentleman] Individual championship test grade Ib
Sophie Wells (two) [Pinocchio] Individual championship test grade IV, Individual freestyle test grade IV
Deborah Criddle (two) [LJT Akilles] Individual championship test grade III, Individual freestyle test grade III
Judo
Sam Ingram Men's 90kg
Shooting
Matt Skelhon Mixed R3 - 10m air rifle prone SH1
Swimming
Nyree Kindred Women's 100m backstroke S6
Sascha Kindred Men's 200m individual medley SM6
Hannah Russell Women's 400m freestyle S12
Oliver Hynd Men's 400m freestyle S8
Matthew Whorwood Men's 400m freestyle S6
Claire Cashmore Women's 100m breaststroke SB8
James Crisp Men's 100m backstroke S9
Heather Frederiksen (two) Women's 100m freestyle S8, Women's 400m freestyle S8
Charlotte Henshaw Women's 100m breaststroke SB6
Stephanie Millward (three) Women's 100m backstroke S9, Women's 400m freestyle S9, Women's 200m individual medley SM9
Aaron Moores Men's 100m backstroke S14
Eleanor Simmonds Women's 100m freestyle S6
Louise Watkin Women's 50m freestyle S9
Claire Cashmore, Heather Frederiksen, Stephanie Millward & Louise Watkin Women's 4x100m medley relay 34pts
Table tennis
Will Bayley Men's singles class 7
Wheelchair tennis
Andy Lapthorne & Peter Norfolk Quad doubles
BRONZE
AthleticsAled Davies Men's shot put F42-44
Gemma Prescott Women's club throw F31/32/51
Rob Womack Men's shot put F54-56
Claire Williams Women's discus F11-12
David Devine (two) Men's 800m T12, Men's 1500m T13
Olivia Breen/Bethy Woodward/Katrina Hart/Jenny McLoughlin Women's 4x100m relay T35/T38
Beverley Jones Women's discus F37
Ben Rushgrove Women's 200m T36
Paul Blake Women's 800m T36
Ola Abidogun Men's 100m T46
Boccia
Dan Bentley/Nigel Murray/David Smith/Zoe Robinson Mixed team BC1-2
Cycling
Darren Kenny Men's individual pursuit C3
Jody Cundy Men's individual pursuit C4
Aileen McGlynn [Helen Scott (pilot)] Women's individual pursuit B
David Stone Mixed road time trial T1-2
Rachel Morris Women's road race H1-3
Equestrian
Lee Pearson [Gentleman] Individual freestyle test grade Ib
Judo
Ben Quilter Men's 60kg
Powerlifting
Zoe Newson Women's 40kg
Sailing
Niki Birrell & Alex Rickham SKUD18 - 2 person keelboat
Shooting
James Bevis Mixed R5 - 10m air rifle prone SH2
Matt Skelhon Mixed R6 - 50m air rifle prone SH1
Swimming
Sam Hynd Men's 400m freestyle S8
Matthew Whorwood Men's 400m freestyle S6
Hannah Russell (two) Women's 100m butterfly S12, Women's 100m backstroke S12
James Clegg Men's 100m butterfly S12
Natalie Jones Women's 200m individual medley SM6
Susie Rodgers (two) Women's 100m freestyle S7, Women's 400m freestyle S7
Oliver Hynd Men's 100m backstroke S8
Eleanor Simmonds Women's 50m freestyle S6
Matthew Walker Men's 50m freestyle S7
Robert Welbourn Men's 200m individual medley SM8
Liz Johnson Women's 100m breaststroke SB6
Louise Watkin Women's 200m individual medley SM9
Harriet Lee Women's 100m breaststroke SB9
Claire Cashmore, Stephanie Millward, Susie Rodgers & Louise Watkin Women's 4x100m freestyle relay 34pts
Table tennis
Paul Davies Men's singles class 1
Jane Campbell & Sara Head Women's team class 1-3
Ross Wilson & Will Bayley Men's team class 6-8
Wheelchair tennis
Lucy Shuker & Jordanne Whiley Women's doubles
FINAL MEDAL TABLE
| Rank | G | S | B | Total | |
| 1 | CHINA (CHN) | 95 | 71 | 65 | 231 |
| 2 | Russia (RUS) | 36 | 38 | 28 | 102 |
| 3 | Great Britain & NI (GBR) | 34 | 43 | 43 | 120 |
| 4 | Ukraine (UKR) | 32 | 24 | 28 | 84 |
| 5 | Australia (AUS) | 32 | 23 | 30 | 85 |
| 6 | United States (USA) | 31 | 29 | 38 | 98 |
| 7 | Brazil (BRZ) | 21 | 14 | 8 | 43 |
| 8 | Germany (GER) | 18 | 26 | 22 | 66 |
| 9 | Poland (POL) | 14 | 13 | 9 | 36 |
| 10 | Netherlands (NED) | 10 | 10 | 19 | 39 |
| 11 | Iran (IRN) | 10 | 7 | 7 | 24 |
| 12 | South Korea (KOR) | 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 |
| 13 | Italy (ITA) | 9 | 8 | 11 | 28 |
| 14 | Tunisia (TUN) | 9 | 5 | 5 | 19 |
| 15 | Cuba (CUB) | 9 | 5 | 3 | 17 |
| 16 | France (FRA) | 8 | 19 | 18 | 45 |
| 17 | Spain (ESP) | 8 | 18 | 16 | 42 |
| 18 | South Africa (RSA) | 8 | 12 | 9 | 29 |
| 19 | Ireland (IRL) | 8 | 3 | 5 | 16 |
| 20 | Canada (CAN) | 7 | 15 | 9 | 31 |
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