There is no question of the hard work, dedication, countless hours of training, and mental as well as physical toughness that it takes to be an Olympic athlete. And as we have just recently honoured their commitment and ability, there is another event starting that, though it is less televised and celebrated, perhaps requires an even higher level of toughness and dedication: the Paralympic Games. Having grown to become the second largest global sporting event, it is time that we take a look at this word as well as what it represents.
Though there have been sporting venues for people with physical disabilities for well over a century, starting with clubs for the deaf in Berlin in 1888, the first mention of the word occurred in a 6th August 1954 caption in the Bucks Advertiser which read: “The flags of the nations flutter high above Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where paraplegic athletes from all over the world had assembled for the Paralympics.” Initially a portmanteau of the words ‘paraplegic’ (paralysis of the lower half of the body, usually caused by damage to the spinal cord) and ‘Olympic,’ in reference to the origin of the competition in 1948 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital involving British World War 2 veterans with spinal cord injuries, the event has since grown, progressed, and become more inclusive to people with other physical or mental disabilities, resulting in the name now being defined as being derived from the Greek para, meaning ‘alongside.’
Growing from the first “international” competition in 1952 in a village in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire involving British and Dutch veterans, the 2016 Paralympics in Rio boasts 4500 athletes from 176 countries; however, with growth and understanding, there have also been good and bad consequences. As the event has grown, media coverage as well as financial support (national and international) has largely been unable to keep up, causing the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) to allow a greater amount of corporate sponsors and advertising. Secondly, as tough there have been cheating incidents and funding/media issues, there have been some amazing non-sporting advances: looking at the host cities themselves, mirroring sentiment from the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, a 2010 study in Vancouver looking at the impact of the Paralympic games showed that 41-50% thought the games raised awareness for disability-accessible facilities and 23% of employers polled stated that the games had motivated them to give more consideration to disabled applicants.
