Paralympics: Let’s Cheer for Athletes as They Challenge Limits

Editorial

15:47 JST, August 30, 2024

Athletes with disabilities will take up the challenge of reaching their full potential and will aim for glory. It is hoped that this will be an opportunity for these athletes’ performances to be engraved in people’s memories, deepening understanding of sports for the disabled.

The Paris Paralympics have begun. About 4,400 athletes from about 170 countries and regions will participate in 22 sports, competing on strength and skill through Sept. 8. More than 170 athletes from Japan will participate.

It is hoped that people will enthusiastically cheer for the athletes who have persistently worked hard to participate in the Games.

The opening ceremony was held in central Paris, and the athletes marched down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees with radiant expressions on their faces. As at the recent Olympics, the open atmosphere of a ceremony not enclosed by a stadium was inspiring.

When it comes to the Japanese athletes, hopes are high for outstanding performances by those in younger generations. Tokito Oda is 18 years old, but he is a gold medal favorite for wheelchair tennis singles. He has already won three of the four Grand Slam titles, including the French Open.

Oda began playing wheelchair tennis because he admired Shingo Kunieda, who won a total of four Paralympic gold medals and retired last year. It is hoped that Oda’s passionate performance will remind people of Kunieda’s.

Swimmer Taiyo Kawabuchi is the youngest athlete in the Japanese delegation at 15 years old, and he is a rising star who won a gold medal at last year’s Asian Para Games. It is hoped that he will show his bold and excellent swimming at his first Paralympic Games.

In 2017, the government launched the “Japan Rising Star Project” to discover promising athletes for the Olympics and Paralympics. Eight athletes from that program will compete in the Games this time. It can be said that the project has achieved a certain level of success.

However, 20 of 25 sports organizations for the disabled that were surveyed by The Yomiuri Shimbun responded that they lacked funds for their activities.

Some organizations are struggling to deal with a significant decrease in income for such reasons as the termination of sponsor support since the Tokyo Games, and they had to shorten the schedules for their training camps.

It is desirable to have a society in which everyone can enjoy sports regardless of whether they have a disability or not. It is important for the public and private sectors to work together to provide continuous support for that purpose.

International conflicts are casting a dark shadow over the Games. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has intensified, and there is no end to warfare in the Middle East.

A Ukrainian athlete who lost his left leg in the fighting will be competing in sitting volleyball at the Games. The athlete said that he wants people to see the reality of what is happening in Ukraine through his performance.

The Paralympics are said to have originated as a competition for wounded soldiers. At the root of the event is the wish for peace.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 30, 2024)