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The Paralympics

Different abilities and different sports, but the same Olympic spirit

The Paralympics is a word formed from the two words “parallel” and “Olympics”, and while they are often in the shadow of their ‘older brother’, the energy and excitement of the Paralympics is in everyway a parallel of the Olympic Games.

Many of the events held in the Paralympics are similar to those of the Olympics. For example, basketball, fencing, rugby and tennis are all played, but the athletes use wheelchairs. Football, judo, and cycling are events for athletes with visual impairment.

There are, however, a few events at the Paralympics which do not have a counterpart in the Olympic Games. Boccia (Boch-chee-yuh) is a sport played by people with cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities affecting their locomotor skills. At the start of the game, a small white leather ball, called a ‘jack’, is thrown onto the playing field. After this, teams or individuals take turns throwing balls (either red or blue) with the aim of getting them as close to the white ball as possible. Goalball is a sport for people with visual impairment or blindness. The sport is played in teams, and the field has two goals. The object of the sport is to roll a ball into the opponent’s goal while the opposing team tries to block it with their bodies. Bells inside the ball tell the players where the ball is, and because of this, spectators must be completely quiet when watching a game. All players wear blindfolds, allowing those with some vision to compete alongside athletes with no vision.

Other events included in the Paralympics are variations on familiar sports. For example, a variation of volleyball, sitting volleyball, is played by locomotor-disabled athletes (for example, people who have lost one or both legs). In this game, players sit on the court rather than standing.

Paralympians are a more varied group than their Olympic counterparts. For one, the age range is much wider. The youngest Paralympian in 2004 was 11-year-old swimmer Qing Qingxu and the oldest was 66-year-old sailor David Williams. They are also varied in their abilities; they may be vision impaired or mobility impaired; they may have neurological illnesses that limit their physical abilities. On the whole, these athletes prefer to be called ‘athletes with disabilities’ rather than ‘disabled athletes' - they wish to focus more on the word ‘athlete’ than the word ‘disabled’. These athletes wish to be viewed as ‘having’ disabilities rather than ‘suffering from’ or being ‘afflicted by’ them. Ten-time Paralympic gold medalist Caz Walton doesn’t mind being called a “wheelchair-user”, but she adds, “please don’t call me wheelchair-bound or confined to a wheelchair.

The Paralympics have been a part of the Olympic Games since 1960, when just 400 athletes competed. In 2004, this number had risen to over 4,000, and even larger numbers are expected to compete in London in 2012.

(Athletes compete in a game of Boccia)

(Players try to block the ball from the goal in Goalball)

Goallball 2008 Logo

Boccia 2008 Logo

Seated Volleyball 2008 Logo

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