The 2024 Summer Paralympics kicked off in Paris on August 28th and will wrap up on September 8th.
As is customary, the Paralympic games follow the Olympics, even though I, and many others, believe they should co-exist.
That said, in 2001, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and IPC (International Paralympic Committee) signed the ‘One Bid, One City’ agreement to protect the interests of Paralympians. The agreement requires host cities to stage both the Olympic and Paralympic Games using the same venues, facilities and infrastructure in an effort to unite both sporting movements.
Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, a German neurologist, is credited with establishing the first sporting event for people with disabilities (PWD), which evolved into the Paralympic Games. A must-watch documentary film about his miraculous commitment to wounded soldiers is “The Best of Men”.
Today, in 2024, there are 168 delegations and 4,400 athletes (including refugee Paralympians) competing in Paris in 23 disciplines. No new disciplines were added to the 2024 Paralympics, though breaking made its Olympic debut this year.
“I believe there is no finish line.” (Hailey Danz, Paralympian)
Paralympic disabilities include: spinal injury, amputee, vision impairment, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability and a catch-all category of locomotive disorders called “les autres”.
Paralympic disciplines include: blind football, boccia, goalball, para archery, para athletics, para badminton, para canoe, para cycling road, para cycling track, para equestrian, para judo, para powerlifting, para rowing, para swimming, para table tennis, para taekwondo, para triathlon, shooting para sport, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis. Boccia and goalball are the only sports that are not also played at the Olympics.
Are you a champion for inclusion, disability rights and social change? Then surely there is something of interest to you in disciplines that you are already cheering on in and outside of the Olympics: why not add a new, supporting lens to the same Paralympic discipline?
There is a lot of dissention in France these days. Happily, the 2024 Paralympic Games has worked hard to take the opportunity to make France a more inclusive society. For example, it added fully accessible bus and tram lines, introduced accessible taxis, and upgraded historic venues into accessible sporting spaces.
There are still a lot of events to watch before the Games come to a close on September 8th, here’s a link to the schedule. In the U.S. events are being broadcast live by NBC and streamed on Peacock. In Canada, CBC is offering daily coverage, with streamed events on CBC.ca, CBC Gem and the CBC Paris app; select broadcasts are also available via Fubo, which is offering a free trial. The Paralympics also have a YouTube channel.
As of Monday, when this blog was written, the US had won 10 Paralympic gold medals in 4 disciplines, Canada was still struggling to reach the top of the podium.
Para Archery (Men’s Individual W1, Men’s Individual Compound Open), with kudos to Jason Tabansky and Matt Stutzman.
Para Athletics (Men’s 100m, Men’s 5000m, Men’s High Jump), with kudos to Jaydin Blackwell, Daniel Romanchuk and Roderick Townsend.
Para Swimming (Women’s 400m Freestyle, Women’s 100m Backstroke, Women’s 200m Individual Medley), with kudos to Olivia Chambers, Gia Pergolini and Mallory Weggemann).
Para Triathlon (Women’s PTS2, Men’s PT55).
Just a few weeks ago, NBCUniversal reported that it delivered 30.6 million viewers across all NBCU, Peacock and key NBCU platforms during the Olympics. This year, all Paralympic disciplines are being covered for the first time ever, including never before broadcast Para badminton, Para powerlifting and shooting Para sport. With a record number of Paralympic Games rights holders, a ton more hours of live coverage and all 23 sport disciplines live for the first time in history, viewership records will be shattered. It’s about time. We welcome adding this important growing engagement statistic to the list of reasons for Paralympic sponsors to continue to invest heavily in these incredibly talented athletes. The Olympics are hard enough, imagine adding a disability and an average age of 5 more years to that tall order.
Now that you’ve read today’s blog, why not take what you’ve learned and play today’s matching quiz on your Quizefy app? Many of the answers can be found right here. We publish an on-trend, hint-filled blog at www.quizefy.com every Tuesday, along with a matching quiz in your Quizefy app. We think they’re a great combination and a great way to Strut Your Smart.