By Elizabeth Hudson BBC Sport in Athens

Kenny has taken inspiration from Hoy

The sun is out in Athens and the weekend is here so where better to spend some free time than on the beach.

And the good news for Athens wheelchair-users is that the first beach in the city to be fully accessible to people with disabilities has just opened.

A grid of wooden planks and ramps enables wheelchair users reach the shoreline on a sandy beach in the Athens seaside suburb of Voula.

An automatic chair system descends them slowly from a quay down to the water.

"Sand is no longer an insurmountable obstacle," said Greek tourism minister Dimitris Avramopoulos during the opening ceremony for the beach.

Although Greece has thousands of kilometres of shoreline, only an handful of beaches across the country are accessible for people with disabilities.

Briton Ellen Hunter has shown tremendous fighting spirit to get to the Paralympics and she hopes it will culminate in a medal.

Hunter, who is the pilot rider for visually-impaired cyclist Aileen McGlynn, broke her back in a cycling accident 15 months ago just before the European Championships and was told that she would never cycle again.

But after spending six weeks in hospital recovering, Hunter got back on a bike again in December and is now ready for the Paralympics - her first major competition.

Hunter and McGlynn, who hail from Glasgow, have been training for two days every fortnight coming up to the Games where they will compete in the 1km time trial on Saturday.

Hunter and McGlynn's teammate Darren Kenny is hoping to emulate Great Britain's Olympic cycling success when he takes part in the men's 1km time trial.

"When I saw Chris Hoy on the podium during the Olympics I thought 'that's where I want to be in four weeks time'," said the 34-year-old from Bournemouth.

Kenny is also full of praise for the Athens Velodrome, where the events will be staged.