The name " Paralympics " mean something unlike than you think .
Paralympics season is upon us, and I, for one, am super excited about it! It’s safe to say the Paralympics deserve more hype, so I’ve done my research. Here are some fascinating facts about the history of the Paralympics, and then a few fun tidbits about the 2024 Games:
paralympics are here … can finally go back to sitting in front of the television set watching random sportspic.twitter.com/Ki57SlyFbF
1.The Paralympics started as a game in a military hospital to try and help paraplegic patients — who were allWorld War II veterans— get better quickly.
2.You might be wondering why the Paralympics are called that — and it’s not what you might think. “Para” means"alongside"inGreek, and the Paralympics arealongsidethe Olympics. Get it?
3.The Paralympics used to only allow athletes in wheelchairs to compete, but therules changedin 1976, when people with other disabilities were included.
4.Wheelchair rugby used to be called"murderball"because of how intensely the wheelchairs sometimes smash into each other. (Yes, seriously.)
5.There are 2 sports that take place at the Paralympicsexclusively! They’re called boccia and goalball.
6.In para archery, people who don’t have use of their hands or arms can (and have, several times)shoot with their feet.
7.For blind football and goalball, you might be wondering how exactly athletes know where the ball is if they can’t see it. Well, the ball ismade with bellsinside of it, so athletes have to listen to where the ball is.
8.Sitting volleyball is literally playedsitting— not in wheelchairs, but on the ground. Athletes have toleave their wheelchairson the side.
9.In wheelchair basketball (one of my favourite events, I’ll have you know), the hoop is just as high as it is in regular basketball —3.05 metersfrom the ground! So they play the exact same game as nondisabled athletes, just in wheelchairs.
And now, somefun factsspecifically about this year’s Paralympics:
10.TheParalympic Refugee teamis the biggest ever this year, with 8 athletes and one guide runner (whose job is toguide visually impaired athletes).
11.Also, this year broke the record formost female athletesat the Paralympics — there are 1,983 women competing this year, which is 45% of the total athletes.
12.Phryges, the mascots for both the Olympics and Paralympics, look like this — and they’re seen walking around during the Games (like in the middle of theathletes' parade). They alsocovered a carwith Phryges just for the Paralympic Games.
13.The tragicHumboldt Broncos bus crash, which happened in Saskatchewan in 2018, left 16 people killed and 13 injured — and it was a huge tragedy for all of Canada. One of the athletes injured in the crash, Jacob Wasserman, iscompeting in the Paralympicsfor the first time this year.
14.For the Triathlon event this year, the Paralympic organizers switched around the dates last-minute. Why? Because ofwater quality problemsin the Seine river. They had to cancel a pre-Olympics swimming event last summer because of sewer issues, too (I know, ew), so clearly this is a recurring problem.
15.AdorableOlympics-Paralympics couplealert!! Tara Davis-Woodhall, an American athlete who won gold in women’s long jump at the 2024 Paris Olympics, is married to Paralympian and silver medalist Hunter Woodhall.
16.The youngest Paralympic athlete this year is swimmer Iona Winnifrith, who is 13. She wontwo gold medalsat this year’s World Para Swimming Championships, too, and she’s ready to make a splash at the Paralympics. (OK, sorry, that was bad).
17.Jürgen Klopp is one of the top football (soccer) managers in the world — you might know him from managing the Liverpool Premier League Team — and he came to the 2024 Paris Paralympics towatch his friendWojtek Czyz compete in para badminton. Adorable!!!
The name “Paralympics” means something different than you think.