By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Staff
In this day and age of people seeking inclusivity for all, it seems incredible that I’m even writing this column arguing that Paralympic athletic events should be included in the Olympic Games. Right now, they’re held as a separate event, a second Olympics if you will, and I just feel that is wrong and doesn’t make sense.
At the recent Beijing Winter Olympics, which just concluded, a total of 2,871 athletes competed in 109 events over a span of 18 days. A total of 224 athletes represented the United States.
While the numbers are not yet available for the total number of Paralympic athletes, the United States will bring 67 to the Paralympic Games on March 4-13 in Beijing.
In researching this article, I came across several commentaries of people with the same thought as mine – that the two should not be separate. So, why is it?
Craig Spence, director of communications at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), told Business Insider when asked in 2016 why the two are separate, “It’s two different things: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) represents able-bodied athletes, while the International Paralympic Committee represents Paralympic athletes. That’s the simple fact.”
Ok, well, no kidding.
But, why is that provided as a reason for them being separate? All the two committees have to do is work together and combine their events into one incredible, inclusive event.
In an op-ed published in USA Today in 2020, Charles Catherine, a blind Paralympic triathlete who is also a special assistant to the president of the National Organization on Disability, wrote, “As I have time to reflect on the (Paralympic) games, I can’t help but wonder if we really need this event. In some ways this separate competition feels like a sideshow, a reflection of a painful reality: we still think of disability as something other.”
There are fewer Paralympic sports contested, and I feel that these could very, very easily be incorporated as events within the sports being contested already at the Olympics. Winter sports contested at the Paralympic games include: alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, para ice hockey, snowboard, and wheelchair curling.
Let’s break it down and see how hard it would be to simply incorporate the Paralympic events into the regular event offerings. To do so, let’s examine my favorite winter sport – biathlon.
At the Winter Olympics, there are a total of 11 biathlon events including: women’s 7.5km sprint, men’s 10km sprint, women’s 10km pursuit, men’s 12.5km pursuit, women’s 15km, men’s 20km, women’s 12.5km mass start, men’s 15km mass start, women’s 4x6km relay, men’s 4×7.5km relay, and the 4x6km mixed relay.
At the Winter Paralympics, there are six biathlon events with three classes per event (visually impaired, sitting, standing) including: women’s 6km, women’s 10km, women’s 12.5km, men’s 7.5km, men’s 12.5km, and the men’s 15km.
Those latter six races could very, very easily be incorporated into the Olympics biathlon program. It would maybe only add another day or two to the biathlon program, but it could still be within the framework of the Olympics schedule because none of the sports take up the entire Olympic time anyways. So, on rest days for some events, others could be racing. It would be so easy, and I’m sure this example would play out for the other sports as well.
All in all, it would require some logistical work, but with the amount of logistical work that already goes into hosting an Olympics, it wouldn’t add that much to the plate really – just a few more athletes to house and feed.
In his op-ed referenced above, Catherine sums up the feeling I think many Paralympic athletes have, “When I compete in World Cup races, our event is usually right before the able-body athletes race. I get to socialize with my idols, experience them racing. In those precious moments, I feel like I am truly part of the national team, an elite athlete despite my disability. I believe that what is possible at the World Cup is also possible at the Olympics.”
