The Australian Paralympic Federation took a new approach for the training, preparation and selection of its athletes for the Sydney Games, helping Australia win the most gold and overall medals.
For athletes, COVID-19 means more than cancelled competitions. Having their athletic goals put on hold and their training routines disrupted can take a toll on athletes’ mental health.
As the new coronavirus has spread around the world, sporting matches and events have been staged behind closed doors, postponed and increasingly cancelled outright.
The White House proposed these cuts for three years in a row. That clashes with longstanding bipartisan leadership regarding rights for all people with disabilities.
The Olympics have been plagued by doping, corruption and political problems. But academic and former Olympian Bruce Kidd says the Olympic Games are still an important humanitarian movement.
One way to get beyond gender barriers in sport would be to scrap sex segregation and replace it with a system similar to that of Paralympic disciplines.
Paralympic sport is meant to be inclusive and fair but athletes don’t face a level playing field. Those from higher income countries can compete more easily.
There are significant challenges in making old cities like Rio more accessible, and there are missed opportunities around the Paralympics, but it’s not all bad news.
Technology has had a particularly visible impact on the Paralympics. But the the most important thing is to let the athlete’s ability come to the fore.
An Access World News database search says everything you need to know: Type in ‘Deflategate’ and you’ll get nearly twice as many hits as ‘Paralympics.’
From a single volunteer with 8mm film to live broadcast on a commercial TV network, the media coverage of the Paralympic Games has come a long way since its inception.
The classification system is what keeps the Paralympics fair. Although it’s not perfect, it’s the best system we have, and it’s continually being improved.
The Paralympic Games started off as a way to motivate and rehabilitate returned servicemen and women after the second world war, and has evolved tremendously since then.
Professor of Social Inclusion - UTS Business School - Centres for Business and Social innovation, and Business Intelligence and Data Analytics, University of Technology Sydney
Honorary Professor, School of Kinesiology, Western University, London, Canada; Adjunct Fellow, Olympic Scholar and Co-Director of the Olympic and Paralympic Research Centre, Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University