Paralympic Games

As we approach the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Paralympic Games (you haven’t forgotten have you?) I am sure we all look forward to twelve days of exciting competition.

My one big hope is that we do not have to suffer any patronizing comments by the media when reporting on the event or the athletes. If I hear or read one of them referring to the competitors as “brave” then shame on them, I personally would like to kick them up the backside! The athletes themselves will tell you they are not brave, they have no choice! They are athletes, athletes with a disability. In the world of disabled sport the athletes put the emphasis on sport first and their disability second, so they are athletes with a disability, not disabled athletes.

If the media want to do just one thing right, this is what they should do, be as critical of the Paralympic athletes and their performances as they are of other sportsmen and sportswomen instead of trying to be “sensitive” to the athlete’s disability. Criticizing their performances will prove to the athletes that they have at long last broken down the barriers that have been more than a burden for them over very many years. Paralympians are sports people who should be treated in the same way as other sport performers.

Are you going to the games? If you get the opportunity you should. If not then try to see as much of the games on television as you can. But please remember these few pointers. A wheel chair athlete is an athlete “who uses a wheelchair” they are not “confined to a wheelchair” or “wheelchair bound”. An athlete in the cerebral palsy category is not “afflicted” by cerebral palsy; the athlete “has” cerebral palsy. Are you getting the idea here folks? These are just some examples of how to refer to athletes with a disability.

During the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta I experienced 10 days of great competition in all the venues while working as an assistant press and media relations officer. The games consisted of 508 events spread over twenty sports, including three demonstration sports.

What was interesting and an enormous learning experience was that there are “cheats” in the Paralympics too! Much confusion centered around the classification of the athletes within their category and then within their “sub group” and one example was when a sprinter in a 100 metres semi final in the visually impaired category was proven to have a level of more “useful” vision than he claimed and all this happened on the start line while the athletes took their mark and it was the other competitors on the start line that realized this and called a halt to the start of the race. There was a bit of pandemonium (and name calling) but eventually the race got underway.

 There was the long jumper with a wooden leg, yes, a wooden leg like a pirate, who had the disastrous situation of his leg breaking in half on landing in the sand pit. Within minutes there were prosthetic company reps (who were present in large numbers at the Games) measuring and arranging for him to receive carbon prosthetic limb, all for free! He went home to Angola a happy man no doubt. The motto of the Atlanta Paralympics was, “The Triumph of the Human Spirit” this spirit certainly came through for this athlete.

For the London games the athletes are divided into four main categories:

1. Athletes with an amputation – ‘amputees’

2. Athletes with cerebral palsy

3. Athletes with visual impairment or blindness

4. Athletes with spinal injuries or other physical disabilities.

The sub groups can be very confusing so be warned if you have never seen the Paralympics before.

Enjoy the Games (what we'll see of it here in the USA anyway!)