Otto Bock, a London 2012 Paralympic-only sponsor and official Prosthetic, Orthotic and Wheelchair Technical Services Provider for the Games, have staged their workshops at the Paralympics since the Seoul 1988 while they have featured at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester for the last six years.

The workshops, which are funded entirely by Otto Bock, are responsible for ensuring that athletes do not suffer any technical defects to their wheelchair, prosthesis or orthosis that would prevent them from competing.

They have been likened to a Formula One pit-stop where athletes can quickly come in ahead of their event and get some last minute work on their prosthetics so that head out in top condition ahead of competition.

Gaynor Norris, the marketing manager of Otto Bock who helped conduct the workshop in Manchester told insideworldparasport: "The mobile Otto Bock workshop in Manchester is only a fraction of the size of the one that will feature at the London 2012 Paralympic Games as there are only five technicians working at it but it has proved popular with the athletes competing at the 2011 BT Paralympic World Cup.

"We had a lot of athletes come along to get repairs ahead of their race and also some athletes turn up simply to look around and see first-hand exactly what we do at Paralympic events.

"The BT Paralympic World Cup is a great event for us to work at, at no cost to the organisers, as we look to finalise our preparations for London 2012."

During the London 2012 Paralympics, around 80 technicians will work together in the service team, offering their services at the venues for rowing at Royal Holloway, sailing at Weymouth and Portland and nine other locations.

A mobile workshop is also being deployed and an emergency service will be offered.

The main workshop will be open from August 22 to September 12 daily from 7am to 11pm while a total of more than 10,000 working hours will be logged during these 26 days.

Based on experience collected at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, more than 2,000 work orders are once again expected.

Meanwhile on display at the BT Paralympic World Cup for the first time was Otto Bock's "Accessible Golf" product.

The product, which retails at £16,000 ($26,000), is tailored to customers who previously played golf but who are now restricted due to illness or accident as it allows users to manoeuvre themselves from a sitting to a fully vertical position.

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