Paris 2024: Athletes answer your biggest questions about the Paralympics
What is a Paralympian and what does Paralympics mean? Athletes answer your biggest questions about the Games ahead of Paris 2024. 05 Aug 2024
The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games are opening on 28 August, featuring about 4,400 athletes from around the world. As we count down the days until the Opening Ceremony, we asked athletes to answer your questions - and the most asked questions on the web - about the Paralympic Games.
What are the Paralympics?
Tom Vanhove (Belgium, competed in goalball at London 2012 and Tokyo 2020): It is the biggest sports event on the planet for people with disabilities and the third-largest sport event in the world. They take place at same venues and uses the same Athletes Village as the Olympic Games, less than three weeks after the Olympics.
I still remember a brilliant campaign by (British broadcaster) Channel 4 for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. It said the Olympic Games are the warmup for the real deal.
What is a Paralympian?
Stef Reid (Great Britain, Para athletics, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020): I always answer this in two ways. I was an able-bodied athlete before, and I used to always think that a Paralympian meant a paralysed athlete. But that’s actually not true. What it actually means, is that it’s parallel. The Paralympics is a Games that happens in parallel.
But the other way that I always describe it and people tend to respond to this better. I saw a meme during the Rio 2016 Olympics and just thought that it’s brilliant - a Paralympian is when a swimmer with no arms gets into the water and swims faster than you. This just made me laugh.
How I’d describe a Paralympian is someone who you would look at, and possibly that person is not the first one to be in your team in physical education class. But then they come out and surprise you at how talented they actually are.
Alejandra Aybar (Dominican Republic, Para swimming, Tokyo 2020): A Paralympian is an athlete who has already competed at the Paralympic Games.
What does Paralympics mean?
Stef Reid: For me, the Paralympics mean possibility. As much as the Paralympics and the Olympics are in parallel, I do think it’s a different experience watching the Paralympics versus watching the Olympics.
We all know what it feels like to be underestimated or to be the underdog. I know and I know many Paralympians out there had that experience of not being the obvious sport super star in their school. And yet, all it took was the right piece of equipment or the right environment. And you see them on this amazing stage doing amazing things. People watching identifies with that – they are not watching, but they are thinking, ‘Yes, I can do things as well’.
What sports are in the Paralympics?
Richard Fox (Great Britain, CP football, Beijing 2008): There are 22 sports at the Summer Paralympics. There are 23 disciplines because you split track cycling and road cycling.
My favourite aspect of the Paralympic Games is the breadth of sports. You have the focus and concentration of boccia and Para archery, and you have the total chaos and carnage of sports like wheelchair rugby and the skill and communication involved in blind football. I have always found the sports to be hugely intriguing and engaging to a first-time viewer.
Who is considered the founder of the Paralympic Movement?
Alejandra Aybar: Sir Ludwig Guttmann right? He opened a spinal injuries centre at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Great Britain and organised the first competition called the Stoke Mandeville Games for wheelchair athletes in July 1948.
Learn more about the history of the Paralympic Games
How can athletes compete at the Paralympics?
Stef Reid: There is almost this underlying assumption that the only way for an athlete with a disability to participate in sports, they need to go to the Paralympics. But it’s very hard to get to the Paralympics and it’s not for everyone. Elite sport is not necessarily for everyone.
But if you want to go to the Paralympics, the best way to do it is to get involved with a local club. There, you find a way to do a sport that’s fun. Once you nail that, you will start growing and progressing.
Where can we watch the Paralympics?
Richard Fox: You can find out how to tune in to watch the Paralympics via the IPC YouTube channel (geoblocking policies may apply) and the IPC website, Paralympic.org.
Discover more about the 22 sports in the Paris 2024 Paralympic sports programme
Book your tickets for the Paralympic Games by visiting the Paris 2024 ticketing website
