Giant Agitos Launched at Cardiff City Hall

This is the first of five sets of giant Paralympic Agitos to launch in the UK before the Paralympic Games begin on 29 August.

With just under two weeks to go until the start of the Paralympic Games, a giant set of Agitos, the symbol for the Paralympic Games, was launched on Friday (17 August) outside Cardiff City Hall.

This is the first of five sets of giant Paralympic Agitos to launch in the UK before the Paralympic Games begin on 29 August.

The launch was attended by London 2012 Director of Paralympic Integration and nine-time gold medallist Chris Holmes, Executive Director of Disability Sport Wales Jon Morgan and athletes from the Australian Paralympic team and Papua New Guinea Paralympic team who are currently staging a pre-Games training camp in Cardiff.

Members of Wheelchair Basketball club Cardiff Celts, including Caroline Matthews who was part of Great Britain’s Wheelchair Basketball team at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, also attended the event and took part in a sporting demonstration.

The 13m long, 8m high Agitos will provide a stunning backdrop for Cardiff’s celebrations on 22 August for the Paralympic Torch Relay. The Agitos weigh one tonne and are made entirely of aluminium with a powder coat finish, with the recognisable red, blue and green colours.

In total, the weeks were spent designing, engineering and fabricating the Agitos.

“I’m thrilled that we are launching the first set of giant Agitos here in Cardiff,” LOCOG Chairman Seb Coe said.

“Wales has a great history of supporting both grassroot and elite disability sport and I am sure the Agitos will inspire and excite residents, spectators and athletes looking to play their part in the London 2012 Games. We are hugely excited about this incredible summer of sport continuing and welcoming athletes from around the world.”

“It is fantastic that Cardiff is the first of five locations across the UK to launch a giant Agitos, the symbol of the Paralympic Games,” said Cllr Huw Thomas, Cabinet Member for Sport, Leisure and Culture.

“The city has an amazing sporting heritage and we are proud of how we support grass roots disability sports which has seen not only some great individual successes but some fantastic annual events such as the annual Wheelchair Sports Spectacular which provides access to disability sport for more than 500 visitors per year.

“The Olympic Rings outside City Hall proved to be a big draw for people in Cardiff and this excitement is now set to continue with the Agitos in the same position as people count down to the start of the 2012 Paralympic Games.”

London 2012 also recently revealed how the Welsh Flame will be created at the summit of Snowdon/ Yr Wyddfa as part of the London 2012 Paralympic Torch Relay. A group of young disabled and non-disabled Scouts from communities near to Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa will ascend the mountain and use a ferrocerium rod to create the sparks that will light the flame for Wales. The Flame will then be placed in a miner’s lantern and transferred to Cardiff where it will be the focus for a day of Paralympic celebrations.

Wales will continue to host other events up to the end of the Paralympic Games as part of the London 2012 Festival, the 12-week UK-wide celebration bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.