Paralympic archive: helping blind sprinters (1979)
In 1979 ITN went to Crystal Palace to meet blind sprinter Graham Salmon, who was pioneering a revolutionary bleeper that ensured he did not stray out of his running track.
In 1979 ITN’s Chris Jamieson reported from Crystal Palace, in London, where an electronic guide bleeper was helping blind sprinter Graham Salmon, from Essex, to achieve excellent times on the track, writes Ian Searcey.
The bleeper worked by emitting high sounds when Salmon veered too far to the right and low sounds when he veered to the left.
The sprinter admitted he would like the opportunity to race more against sighted people.
“If I can take part in that sort of competition, there are obviously a lot of sighted people that are faster than me. Obviously by running against sighted people that are faster than me, I’m going to improve,” he told ITN.
And he admitted that running on his own all the time was “a bit monotonous”.
