descript=<p><b>Summary Index Page For The Athens 2004 (Paralympic) Trip Photographs</b></p>\
<p>Each of these Links will take you to a page of thumbnails where you can \
scroll through a lot of pictures of a lot of varying quality.&nbsp; Many are \
lifted from a digital video tape and the focus is a little off at times.&nbsp;&nbsp; \
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Lindsey also has &quot;optimized&quot; some of them, so you might see some duplicates \
where one looks much better, with say, a stranger walking through the background \
completely erased and other such magic. </p>\
<p>To see a larger copy of any thumbnail image just left-click on it once.&nbsp; \
Then you can either click once on the big image to return to the thumbnail page, \
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</p> <p>For a newsletter writeup about the competition, <a href="http://texasarchery.org/eletters/20041027.htm#article2">use this link</a> to access it.</p>\
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<p>After years of training, the date finally arrived for Lindsey to compete in Athens, Greece in the <a href="http://www.athens2004.com/en/ParalympicGames/parahome">2004 Paralympics</a>.&nbsp; </p> <p>Lindsey flew out to Dulles in Washington on the 9th of September, several weeks after the Olympics closed.&nbsp; There she went through a processing center before leaving on a special charter flight direct to Athens with the rest of the US contingent.&nbsp; One day after taking off they landed in Athens where he 400 or so US athletes joined up with around 3400 from other countries in the Olympic Village.&nbsp; Originally designed for more than twice the number, the street were strangely, eerily empty at times.</p> <p>Gina, Ron, and Ron's parents Bea and Alan flew out of Texas on the 15th, arriving in Athens on the 16th of September.&nbsp; Plenty of sightseeing ensued and they had a great time during the Paralympics, watching fencing, basketball, tennis, rugby all conducted from wheelchairs, track and field conducted from specially designed chairs (high-tech like bicycles are in the Olympics).&nbsp; \
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Runners with double leg amputations, using high-tech steel and composite legs that allowed a runner to run sub 11 second 100 meter dashes!</p> <p>Lindsey shot her <a href="../Bios/LindseyBio/Athens/QualifyingResults.pdf"> qualifying round</a> on the 21st, registering a score of 603 by shooting 72 arrows at a target 70 meters away.&nbsp; She bettered the world record by 13 points and blew the previous <a href="../Bios/LindseyBio/Athens/recordsbroken.pdf">paralympic record away</a>, improving on it by 34 points!&nbsp; A Chinese archer shot the same score but had less perfect arrows (Lindsey's were closer to the very center dot of the target) so Lindsey ended up ranked number 1 for the competition.&nbsp;&nbsp; She started out in the head-to-head competition <a href="../Bios/LindseyBio/Athens/one_eightharrowbyarrow.pdf">18-arrow match</a> \
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by beating the archer from Belarus 145 to 113, setting yet another paralympic record in the process.&nbsp; The nearest score to her by any other archer at this point was by the Chinese archer, 9 points less.&nbsp; </p> <p>In her next match she faced <a href="../Bios/LindseyBio/Athens/one_fourtharrowbyarrow.pdf">an archer from Thailand</a> who was just a little more &quot;on&quot; than Lindsey.&nbsp; Lindsey had 3 weak shots, two 5s and a 6, and finished 7 points behind the Thai, 91 to 98.&nbsp; That ended her Paralympic competition because in archery there are no second chances, no second serves.&nbsp;&nbsp; The Thai went on to shoot a 75 and a 77 finishing 4th, so her 98 was a very surprising and good performance.&nbsp; \
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Lindsey ended up in 6th position.</p> <p>A day after the closing ceremony, we boarded a 51 foot sailing yacht for 6 days of sailing the Agaean Sea, going from island to island in the Cyclades ([pronounced kik Kluh dees by our greek captain/guide/translator).&nbsp;&nbsp; We had a great time and discovered a gem of an island, Delos.&nbsp; See those pictures, for sure.</p> <p>When we left the boat on the 5th of October Gina, Lindsey, and Ron headed straight to the airport for a 3 hour flight to Heathrow where we took a 130 dollar taxi ride to Marble Arch in London. Nana and Grandad stayed on the boat one more night, in order to take a morning flight to San Antonio ,via DFW.&nbsp; </p> <p>Did we mention that London is EXPENSIVE?&nbsp; Stayed at the Marriott, as in Greece, using frequent flier-type points, and did some great touristy bits - The Big Eye, British Museum, The Globe, Thames River boat excursion, ate fish and chips, rode the metro, and perhaps best of all, took in Portobello Road on a Saturday morning - as in the street market featured in the movie, Nottinghill.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Traveling with a wheelchair, a bowcase, and 5 suitcases, we had to take another taxi back to the airport and then back to USA on separate flights, all arriving safe and sound in Austin on the 9th of October.&nbsp; End of trip.&nbsp; always a good feeling to get home.&nbsp; </p>\
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<p>Lindsey liked the experience enough to want to do it again in 4 years - this time in Bejing in 2008.&nbsp;&nbsp; Before then, we hope to find some more women to teach archery to, in order to be able to field a women's team this time.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> 
