Four medallists from Santiago trust the social impact that just one medal can have

Guatemala, Panama, Bermuda and Puerto Rico have earned only one medal in the Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games so far. Nevertheless, the athletes that gave those podium-rewarded performances trust that even just one medal could be enough to help create change.

Without hesitation, Gersson Mejía, Rey Dimas, Yushae De Silva-Andrade and Carmelo Rivera, respectively, believe in the power of one.

“This opens a lot of things, for example, people getting to know more about the sport due to the medal going viral in social media. And not just people without a disability, but even people with a disability, that could get interested on starting a sport. That is a simple fact that can change lives”, said Mejía, who won bronze in Para taekwondo, in the -58kg category.

“This medal means a lot to me, is the satisfaction after a lot of hard work throughout the years, but most importantly, it means a lot to my country, since it is just the second medal in the history of Guatemala (Raúl Anguiano, gold medal in badminton S4, in Lima 2019)”, mentioned the 33-year-old fighter, who was born with a malformation in his right arm.   

He explained that since he was five, he practices taekwondo with his twin brother (able-bodied), who even was in the national team, and got into Para taekwondo since 2009, when the sport was included in the Paralympic offer.

Dimas, winner of a silver medal in Para powerlifting in -72 kgs, hopes that he can also give more visibility to Para sports in Panama after his success.

“The topic of acceptance and support for us is difficult because people really don’t know what we do. In my country a lot of people think we are having fun here (in Santiago), doing something recreational and that’s not it. They need to understand that this requires high level performance, which always comes with months and years of major effort and sacrifices”, he stated.  

“I believe that when you go back to your country with achievements like this, things change. I know there are good people that at some point will give us support. This is an incentive for everybody to understand that this is elite sport, and we want to make our country proud. It pains us to underperform and sometimes we just need help to improve”, Dimas added.

The 37-year-old Panamanian had an amputation on his left leg when he was five years old, after being born with a malformation. He got to discover Para sports when he reached his National Paralympic Committee (NPC) to get a new prosthetic leg, when he was 30.

Small country, big socials

Yushae De Silva-Andrade, from Bermuda, won a silver medal in boccia. She shared that she was overwhelmed and emotional by the response of the crowd during her event, which is the reason why she expects to convince more people to reach out to Para sports soon.

Part of a delegation with only three athletes, she wants more of them to experience what just happened to her.  “I hope to inspire the future generation of athletes from my country”, she firmly said.

De Silva-Andrade commented that “in the last few years, support for the disabled in Bermuda has grown significantly. Steady progress has been made and it is more visible and active in the community”. Nevertheless, she added that room for improvement is always there.  

Her disability is cerebral palsy (CP), which affects her mobility, so she uses a wheelchair for transportation. She got into boccia after seeing it in a sports expo, in high school, 15 years ago. She is currently 30.

There is always more to do

“Back home, the concept of the Paralympic Movement is still not that well known. There still are people that call us names. We have to change that now. I hope that this medal can have some impact on that”, he added.

“I have always told my teammates: ‘Go out to run hard, to compete hard because the future of Puerto Rico’s Para sports pends on our results. If we don’t work hard, nobody is coming to help us, and we need that help’ (…) We need more visibility in the media, more sponsors that want to partner with us. All of that would make more people side with us”, said the 34-year-old.  

Rivera has an intellectual disability and got into Para athletics at 26 years old, by recommendation of his brother.

In unison, these four athletes believe that more sporting success will come for them, and they will be important cogs to help push the door open for more inclusion and accessibility in Guatemala, Panama, Bermuda and Puerto Rico.  

Definitely, they dream big. But not just with social change, because within their sporting careers their desire sets on going to Paris 2024. Harder training awaits each one of them, but maybe that one medal can empowered them even more to reach their goals.

Guatemala, Panama, Bermuda and Puerto Rico locate between the 17th and 20th position in the medal table, among the 31 nations that participated in the Parapan American Games.

At the end of the eighth day of competition, Wimana Akeem Stewart, from Trinidad & Tobago, added himself to the list of lone medallists, after winning the top prize on the discus throw F64.

Brazil is still on top of the medals table with 132 gold, 75 silver and 79 bronze, for a total of 286. Colombia is next (44, 52, 48, for a total of 144), followed by the USA (44, 50, 43, for 137).

Santiago 2023 brought together almost 2,000 athletes to battle from 18 to 26 November. This is the seventh edition of the Games, which is the biggest competition for Para sport in the Americas.