Photo: https://www.paralympic.org/paris-2024/about-us
Welcome back to The Sunstone Way.
After watching the 2024 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony – and the concert on Long Beach’s Granada Beach to welcome the 2028 Summer Olympics here – you might have thought the Paris Games were over.
Not quite yet. Beginning next Wednesday, Aug. 28, the 2024 Paralympics will take over the same venues where Olympic history was so recently made. More than 4,000 athletes from around the world will compete in a whopping 549 medal events through Sept. 8.
It Started With Veterans
For much of history, a disabling injury or birth defect kept people from sports, at least competitively. That changed after World War II, when neurologist Dr. Ludwig Guttmann (who fled Nazi Germany and established a spinal injury center at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England in 1944) recognized the therapeutic benefit of sports. He organized the first competition for wheelchair athletes – the Stoke Mandeville Games.
Those games grew over the years – that first event consisted of 16 servicemen and women competing in archery.
That growth led to the first official Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome, shortly after the Olympics had taken place there. About 400 athletes from 23 countries competed in several sports, including archery, basketball, swimming, and fencing.
All In A Name
Paralympic is a bit of a made-up name. It’s derived from the Greek word para, which means beside or alongside. So the Paralympics took place alongside the Olympics.
Since the Seoul 1988 Summer Games and the Albertville 1992 Winter Games, the Paralympics was officially tied to the Olympics, following shortly after the Olympics in the same location. While the two Games have different logos and many sports have different rules an effort is made to keep them as parallel as possible.
For example, most of the track and field events are contended in the Paralympics, minus obstacle races, the pole vault and the hammer throw. But, thanks to the wide range of disabilities, it takes more to ensure that there is a level playing field.
Take the 100-meter dash. There were two finals in the Olympics, men and women. In the most recent Paralympics at Tokyo, there were 29 finals – 16 for men and 13 for women – with categories ranging from running blades to wheelchair racing.
Special Competitions
Some Paralympic sports are specifically designed. There’s “Blind Football,” men’s five-a-side football (soccer) where athletes who are visually impaired play with a ball with a bell inside and coaches behind the goals and on the sidelines (which have boards to keep the ball in play). The audience has to be silent – until a goal is scored!
I love playing soccer, but I’m not too sure I would do too well if I had to play blindfolded.
Other sports, including cycling, swimming, and many of the track and field events have multiple categories. There also are several wheelchair sports, including the popular wheelchair basketball.
These are highly motivated, highly trained athletes, just like their Olympic counterparts. They epitomize the Paralympic motto, “Spirit in Motion.”
Talk About Teamwork
Let me tell you about a new event, introduced at the last Paralympics. It’s called the Universal Relay, and it is similar to the Mixed Relay in the Olympics, where there were two men and two women on each team. Paralympics adds another component, with four different impairments represented as well.
Picture this. A visually impaired athlete runs the first 100 meters, then touches a runner with a limb impairment. That runner finishes his or her leg and touches a runner with a coordination impairment. A racer in a wheelchair completes the anchor leg.
Talk about teamwork. Talk about relying on your partners. In the Tokyo Paralympics, Team USA won the first-ever gold medal in this event in the incredible time of 45.52 seconds. That’s 400 meters in 45.52 seconds! I bet you can’t do that. I know I can’t.
An Inspiration
Each and every one of the 4,000 athletes in this year’s Paris Paralympics have overcome huge challenges with hard work and perseverance. My heart swells to think of their journeys.
To be sure, they have support teams – partners in their pursuit of their dreams. Together, they find a way.
It is The Sunstone Way.
And remember to always be a Sunstone!
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
Sunstone Management, Inc.
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©Sunstone Management, Inc. 2024