American wheelchair athlete Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham sped down a sixty-foot ramp and performed a reverse somersault through the air amidst a sea of fireworks to kick off the opening ceremony in spectacular fashion. Canoe and triathlon will be included in the Games for the first time in Rio. Fortunately, the kits were fixed in time for the Indians to take part in the opening ceremony.
Advertisement
However, while both Nuzman’s and Craven’s speeches were mostly well received by the crowd, they were not without awkward moments, particularly when each thanked the Brazilian government. According to him, in 2004, when swimmer Clodoaldo Silva collected six gold medals, the visibility of Paralympic athletes began to change for the better.
Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee and Sir Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee then entered to address the audience. “You can not come to a more passionate country for sport, but you’ve got to engage with the hearts”, Craven said.
Amid the samba dancing and pyrotechnics there was also controversy.
The Paralympics has been embroiled in the worst build-up in its 56-year history, but Brazil belatedly got into the Paralympic mood. Temer has ousted the country’s legitimate president Dilma Rousseff, who has been impeached and removed from office. Russia, who have been completely banned from taking part in the Paralympics after reports emerged of state-sponsored doping, managed to sneak in their flag via the Belarusian contingent.
When it was revealed in mid-August that only 300,000 tickets of the available 2.5 million for the Rio Games had been purchased, Greg Nugent, the brand, marketing and culture director for London 2012, launched an online crowdfunding campaign to raise money to send Brazilian children to the competition. The three Agitos, the red, blue, and green asymmetrical crescent shapes has been the symbol of the Paralympic Games since 2003.
The biggest concern for the Games was around a shortfall in funding, with the struggling Brazilian economy and low ticket sales. They will feature in 10 disciplines.
When do the Paralympics begin and how can I watch them? Games will culminate on the 18th of this month. Once again they will be broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, with coverage fronted by the ubiquitous Clare Balding, who has switched channels from the BBC to anchor the event.
It could be a rude awakening after the success of London 2012, warns Jackie Ashley of The Guardian. She is back, and will be competing in this year’s Paralympics. “The undercurrent thought is that Paralympics no longer needs to be under the shadow of Olympics – an attitude India needs to reflect upon”.
“The main legacy of these Games is certainly to convince the Brazilian society that we need more inclusion, we need more accessibility and we need to understand our differences, remembering always that everybody has the same heart”, Andrada said.
“The disability community have been working really hard to give disabled people more choice, more control over their lives and more opportunities”, Wagner said.
For this was a night belonging to the people of Rio and the thousands of athletes from 159 competing countries.
It helped the Paralympics to go ahead, but with cuts to the workforce and transport services as well as the closure of some media centres. There have also been alterations to venues, with the wheelchair fencing moved to the Olympic Park. Now sales have reached 1.6 million and are “growing every day”. But that still leaves some two million tickets (around 80 per cent) unsold.
Brazil’s first Paralympic medal was won by chance, in 1976.
A notable absentee was International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach.
However, that has created a political storm.
Russian Federation had initially lost an appeal against the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sports. In addition to event coverage, the Olympic Channel is on the ground in Rio to capture the behind the scenes coverage and conduct athlete interviews to develop complimentary content in support of the Paralympic Movement.
Advertisement
Sir Philip was the performance director of the GB Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team in 1998 until 2002, CEO of the global wheelchair basketball federation from 1994 to 1998 and company secretary of the British coal corporation from 1986 to 1991.
