Paralympic: Resilience In Action

Ishtiaq Ahmed 

Bradford: The Paralympic opening ceremony was held in Paris last evening. For the next 11 days 160 delegations of 4,000 men and women with disabilities from across the world will  be competing in a range of expanding sports on the world stage.

The history of Paralympic sport began in 1948 at a hospital for war veterans in Stoke Mandeville, located 60 kilometres north of London. German neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttman was looking for his paraplegic World War II veterans to rehabilitate more quickly.

The first formal Paralympic Games started in 1960. Since then, 16 Summer Paralympic Games and 14 Winter Paralympic Games have been held in 17 separate cities.

However, since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, the Paralympic games sit alongside the Olympics and now take place two weeks after the Olympics in the same city and the same venue to emphasise inclusion and to reduce marginalisation of people with physical disabilities in society.

The word “Paralympic” derives from the Greek preposition “para” (beside or alongside) and the word “Olympic”. Its meaning is that Paralympics are the parallel Games to the Olympics and illustrates how the two movements exist side-by-side.

The Paralympic symbol of the three Agitos launched at the closing ceremony of the Athens games in 2004, is from the Latin meaning “I move”. 

It also reflects the Paralympic Motto, “Spirit in Motion,” representing the strong will and resilience of every Paralympian, emphasising the fact that Paralympic athletes are constantly inspiring and exciting the world with their performances: always moving forward and never giving up.

The Paralympic games are a worldwide platform for the people with disabilities to showcase their talent and aspirations. It is a powerful statement of intent and resilience by the people with disabilities against prejudice, discrimination and marginalisation. They refuse to be denied.

Pakistan has Haider Ali, as the sole representative at the Paris Paralympics. He comes from Gujranwala and will represent Pakistan in the F37 category of the discus throw event on September 6. This will be Haider’s fifth appearance at the quadrennial event.

He won a gold medal in the discus throw at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics with a throw of 55.26 meters and bagged a silver medal in the long jump at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and a bronze in the same event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Unfortunately, he didn’t compete in the 2012 London Paralympics due to injury.

One athlete from the country with a population of 245,000,000 millions is indicative of the neglect, marginalisation, and the denial of the people with disabilities. Very shameful state of affairs.