Paralympic scandal at Chichester Festival Theatre

Published: 13 September 2012
Reporter: Sheila Connor

Gold Run

The end of the Olympics and Paralympics seems an appropriate time to tell the story of the dramatic disqualification scandal at Sydney 2000 which led to the exclusion of learning disabled athletes from Paralympic sport for twelve years, when the Spanish basketball team were stripped of their gold medals for fielding players who did not have a learning disability.

A portfolio of photographs by Outside In artist Andy Hood captures the creation and development of Gold Run, a collaborative multi-media production inspired by this history and the triumphant reversal of the ban for London 2012.

The story is told through music and visual art—an original commission and partnership between the disability arts organisation Carousel, Glyndebourne and Pallant House Gallery—created and presented by learning-disabled and non-traditional artists. Having premiered to sell-out audiences at Glyndebourne and the Corn Exchange as part of Brighton Festival, Gold Run will conclude with a full-scale production at Chichester Festival Theatre on 30th October 2012.

Marc Steene, Deputer Director of Pallant House Gallery, said, "The images he has produced capture the experience, the energy, and camaraderie of Gold Run to powerful effect and will provide a lasting testimony of the project".

Andy Hood's Gold Run is free to the public and runs until 14 October in the Studio.

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