This summer was filled with so many fun and memorable moments, and one of the main events was definitely the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games. I, along with millions of others, tuned in to watch athletes compete at the highest level for a chance to win a bronze, silver, or gold medal. However, it absolutely broke my heart to hear many people across social media say they were sad that the Olympics Games were ending on Aug. 11. This is because they aren’t over! In fact, the second part of the Summer Games, the Paralympics, hasn’t even started yet. These games are set to begin on Aug. 28 and will last until Sept. 8. Let’s go over everything you need to know before watching.
The most important thing to remember is that the Paralympics are not any less important than the Olympics. In fact, the name of the Paralympics comes from the Greek word “para” which means “alongside.” The Paralympics and the Olympics exist alongside each other— held only weeks apart in the same host city every four years. Despite their current coexistence, the Paralympics haven’t been around as long as the Olympics; its 60th anniversary was just this year.
So, how did the Paralympics even start?
The history of the Paralympic Games begins back in 1944 when Dr. Ludwig Guttman opened a spinal injuries center at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Great Britain. It was here that Dr. Guttman saw an opportunity to help his patients by introducing sports as a method of physical therapy. With time, this rehabilitation sport evolved to recreational sport and ultimately became a competitive sport. All of Guttman’s patients were World War II veterans, and with the 1948 Olympic Summer Games happening in London, he organized a series of his own sport competitions to be held at the same time as the Olympics. On July 29, 1948, the day of the Olympics opening ceremony, Guttman held his competition, titled “The Stoke Mandeville Games” after the hospital. These games featured 16 injured servicemen and women who all took part in a competitive archery match. It was a great success, and in 1952, the International Stoke Mandeville Games was founded.
Guttman’s games later evolved into the Paralympics we know today, which were first held during the 1960 Rome Summer Games, with the first Winter Paralympics being held in Sweden in 1976. However, it wasn’t until the Seoul Summer Games of 1988 that the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee struck up an agreement to have both events forever held in the same host city and venue. It has been this way ever since.
Now that we have the history of the Paralympics out of the way, let’s discuss how the Paralympics differ from the Olympics. To state the most obvious difference, athletes who participate in the Paralympics are all disabled. These disabilities range from amputations to visual impairments to intellectual disabilities. Another clear difference is that there are 40 total sports in the Olympic Games, while there are only 28 in the Paralympic Games. Of course, this does not mean that the Paralympics are any less impressive than the Olympics— all sports must be sanctioned by the IPC to ensure athletes’ safety, explaining why there are fewer sports included in the Paralympic Games. Even so, most Olympic sports have a Paralympic equivalent, including athletics, basketball, swimming, archery, judo, rugby, tennis, and many others.
In the Paralympics, athletes are classified within a system that sorts them based on how much their impairment impacts their athletic ability. This classification system is in place to ensure fair and equal competition. Then, based on their classification, athletes are put into groups that determine what sports they are eligible to compete in. While the classification system is the absolute cornerstone of the Paralympics, it isn’t the only process put in place to ensure an equal competition. For example, during blind soccer, all athletes are blindfolded to ensure equal visual impairment. The soccer ball is filled with bells that help the athletes pinpoint its location, allowing the competitors to play without sight. In Para-Swimming, participating athletes are unable to compete with any aids, including prosthetics. Likewise, athletes competing in the Para-Athletics in the T-12,visual impairment category can choose to run with or without a guide.
Many processes and systems are the same for both the Olympics and Paralympics, including, like I mentioned above, how both Games are held in the same venue. This means the courts, swimming pools, track, and even the basketball hoops are all the same size. Of course, some things are changed in the Paralympics to better accommodate the athletes, like how wheelchair rugby is played indoors with a round ball, or how in wheelchair fencing, the athletes’ chairs are held down to the ground, preventing the athletes from moving back and forth. All these points show that while the Paralympics may differ from the Olympics, they are equally as impressive and require just as much skill and talent.
The 2024 Paralympics are set to begin with their Opening Ceremony on August 28. I will definitely be watching, and hope you will too.