By Louis Shankar
Published on August 29, 2024 at 11:14 am
Reading time: 4 minutes
“The Paralympic Movement has gotten to where it is today by doing bold things and pushing boundaries,” said Craig Spence, Chief Brand and Communications Officer of the International Paralympic Committee.
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The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games began yesterday, Wednesday, August 28, and will run until Sunday, September 8. Around 4,000 athletes from around the world will compete in 549 medal events in 22 sports – a stark contrast to the 10,714 athletes who competed in 329 events in 32 sports during the Olympic Games. Olympic Games in Paris.
In addition to the different disciplines and gender separation, many sports also have several different classifications and classes. Para swimming, for example, has ten classes for the physically disabled, three for the visually impaired and one for the mentally disabled. The full range of sports includes: Para archery, para athletics, para badminton, blind football, bocce, para canoeing, para cycling, para equestrian, goalball, para judo, para powerlifting, para rowing, para shooting, sitting volleyball, para swimming, para table tennis, para taekwondo, para triathlon, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis. Bocce and goalball are the only two sports without an Olympic equivalent – so it’s worth taking a look.
What’s the best way to keep up with the Games? Since taking over coverage in 2012, Channel 4 has done a great job of celebrating and promoting the Paralympics. This year, over 1,300 hours of live sport will be broadcast, across linear channels and streaming. As well as experienced sports reporters such as Ade Adepitan and Claire Balding, the public broadcaster has brought in former Paralympians, as well as disabled media personalities such as actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, who won Be sure to come and dance in 2021 and comedian Josh Pugh.
Channel 4 is also supporting a new generation of talent, with content creators Fats Timbo and Milly Pickles, and actors Lenny Rush (from the British comedy thriller TV series Am I unreasonable?) and George Robinson (from the Netflix hit series Sex education). Over 200 people will work on the channel’s coverage, including 16 disabled people from Channel 4’s Paralympics Production Trainee Scheme.
Channel 4 will be covering the Paralympics from 8am-11.30pm (with just a 30-minute break for the six o’clock news) from Thursday 29 August until next Saturday 7 September. More4 will be providing team sports coverage from 9am-9pm daily, presented by Arthur Williams.
In America, NBCUniversal offers over 1,500 hours Hours of programming, including over 140 hours of live television coverage on NBC, USA Network and CNBC.
The last stage will actually be relocated to Paris for the duration of the Games and will be broadcast there every evening. The show was originally produced as part of the London 2012 Paralympics program. The last stage is a comedy talk show presented by Adam Hills alongside comedians Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe. It has since become a weekly news programme and a jewel in Channel 4’s schedule, always keeping an eye on disability issues and disability sport beyond the Paralympics.
The Paralympics will use many of the stadiums, venues and much of the infrastructure of the Olympic Games – including the athletes’ village. The viral Chocolate muffins will return! And the same goes for the cute Phrygian cap mascots! Will the Paralympics produce as many memes as the Olympics? That’s unlikely, given the lower overall coverage and the end of the summer holidays this weekend.
So far, no well-known ambassadors have been announced for the Paralympics. Notable names from the Olympics include Snoop Dogg and the Cookie Monster. However, there will be a handover of sorts between Paris and Los Angeles, the host city of the 2028 Games.
Flavor Flav, best known as a member of the hip-hop group Public Enemy, was the star of this year’s Olympics. Not only did the rapper personally sponsor the U.S. women’s water polo team, which was still raising funds ahead of the games despite the title, but he was also their main endorser and provided important coverage of the sport. Although he hasn’t announced any specific plans for the Paralympics, he’s been promoting the games on his social media, so keep your eyes peeled.
Speaking of social media: The Paralympics TikTok account is gaining popularity quite has been gaining a lot of traction (and controversy) lately for its edgy, provocative, distinctive content. It’s hard to describe the videos without ruining them – it’s easier to just scroll through her feed. Essentially, it’s typical TikTok fare: short videos with funny soundtracks and/or comical captions. However, they’re often blunders or moments of drama, always laughing, never atthe athletes. However, the line between fun and discomfort is sometimes very close.
“What we post on TikTok is very different from what we post on LinkedIn,” Craig Spence, Chief Brand and Communications Officer of the International Paralympic Committee, told BBC in April 2023. For over a year, the site has been gaining traction and views, mainly to increase awareness of the games, and with great success.
Criticism of TikTok’s Paralympics content often comes from people without disabilities who want to find fault. The content is developed by and in dialogue with Paralympics participants and people with disabilities. In fact, the person responsible for the content is himself a Paralympics participant and is supported by the same team that has been running the account for several years.
“The Paralympic movement has gotten to where it is today by being bold and pushing boundaries,” Spence explained. “We know we’re walking a fine line with some of the content right now,” he continued. At the time of writing, only one post has been removed following a request from an athlete.
In fact, this is the place The last stage first established itself in the industry by making light of sometimes serious situations and finding joy in the discomfort. Previous coverage of disability sport focused on emotional stories, the accidents and illnesses that affected athletes. Why should the coverage be so serious compared to the Olympics?
There are now a number of disabled comedians and stand-up comedians who use their comedy to talk about disabilities and fight against stigma, such as Rosie Jones and Lost Voice Guy, who Britain’s Got Talent in 2018. The Paralympics are meant To make the game festive, fun and joyful, the use of kid gloves benefits both the athletes and the fans who enjoy watching.
British Paralympian Jack Hunter-Spivey aptly explained: “I think the Paralympics get more attention when we see trends and things like that on TikTok. I really like that because disability is a sensitive issue.”