If you were on social media last summer, you probably saw so many posts along the lines of, “How did I not know about the Paralympics? It is amazing!” This seems to happen over and over again to the Paralympics. It makes a breakthrough, like in London 2012, then falls off the sports fan radar only to reemerge some time later, with another breakthrough. Will Paris 2024 be the parasport breakthrough that sticks?
Paris 2024 Paralympics Success
According to the International Paralympic Committee, the Paris 2024 Paralympics was the largest ever by any measure: more athletes (4,400), more women competing (1,983), more countries represented (168), and more countries winning medals (165) than ever before. The Paralympic Refugee Team won its first medals.
Records On and Off the Field
Athletes set eighty world records during Paralympic competition, but they were not the only records broken. On August 31, over 270,000 spectators attended Paralympic events, the single busiest day of the Paralympics.
The IPC and broadcasters reported record viewership on television and streaming. Engagement on social media and internet searches also broke through previous barriers. More broadcasters around the world covered the Paralympics for more hours than ever before. In the U.S., NBC claimed a 31% increase in Paralympic viewers and a 60% increase in ad sales.
Paris 2024 advanced new technology to improve the fan experience. We were particularly taken with the Vision Pad, a device that allowed fans with visual impairments to “feel” what was happening on the field. Paris 2024 used this device to help visually impaired fans better enjoy goalball and blind football.
At Paris 2024, the volunteer running the Vision Pad used this set up to track a goalball game for visually impaired fans. Photo: Jill Jaracz
Good Vibes All-Around
Athletes claimed Paris 2024 was “the best Paralympics ever.” IPC President Andrew Parsons declared a complete victory for the Paralympic movement. “Everything we dreamed of happened,” he said. Spectators praised the positive atmosphere and high-level competition. The Paris Paralympics were the feel-good story of the summer.
For Paralympians, Games that are truly accessible also make a difference. Canadian boccia player Alison Levine talked with us about the improvement in her quality of life while living in the Athletes’ Village, where organizers took accessibility into account.
“It’s just such a time saver, you know, to be able to take a shower and then go to bed within an hour instead of it taking two because you’re in a really inaccessible hotel room and you have to do like four transfers to get to your shower bench and whatnot,” Levine said. “Just the energy that it saves, the time that it saves, knowing that you’re safe and you’re at less risk of injury.”
Increased Accessibility Beyond Sport
While it still has a long way to go, Paris made incredible strides towards becoming a more accessible city to people with disabilities. Paris invested €125 million on initiatives including implementing a fully-accessible bus and tramway system, adding 1000 accessible taxis, improving accessibility in municipal buildings and schools, and developing 17 enhanced accessibility neighborhoods. Even seemingly small changes, like drastically increasing the number of sound modules at traffic crossings, greatly improved life for those with disabilities.
Milano-Cortina 2026 – One Year to Overcome Challenges
The Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics are less than a year away. Can it carry some of the momentum from Paris 2024?
That will be a hard sell. The Winter Paralympics are significantly smaller than the summer version. Only 665 athletes from 50 countries are expected to compete in just 79 medal events in a mere six sports (compared to 22 sports at Paris). The Winter Paralympics includes only two team sports: sled hockey and wheelchair curling.
Unlike in Paris, events for the Milano-Cortina Paralympics are spread across a wide area in the north of Italy. It will be nearly impossible from spectators to take in events in more than one venue in a day. In addition, hotel space is limited and expensive, as is transportation around the venues; much more so than in Paris.
Accessibility Could Still Be a Winner
Despite all those limitations, the 2026 Winter Paralympics could be a huge success in an arguably more important way: improving accessibility throughout Northern Italy. The City of Milan spent €55 million to install elevators and stairlifts in metro stations. The Lombardy region has ordered new accessible trains, costing €416 million, while also working to improve services for those with a variety of disabilities at train stations. The Province of Bolzano renovated its train stations, particularly the central Valdaora-Anterselva station. In addition the region is spending significant funds to develop the infrastructure needed for barrier-free access to mountain tourism and hospitality.
In 2022, the organizing committee launched the Adaptive Winter Sport project to increase participation in winter parasport. The program trains instructors, supplies equipment, and promotes accessible winter sports. While this project is limited to Italy, Paralympic committees around the world make similar investments.
Limited Coverage Could Be a Spoiler
While adaptive sports participation could increase in Italy, greater exposure worldwide may be tougher to come by. Many fewer broadcasters will be airing many fewer hours of coverage for the Winter Paralympics as well. NBCUniversal will offer only 80 hours of coverage from Milano-Cortina, despite the IPC offering nearly 300 hours of available live coverage. Just eight hours will air on NBC’s flagship channel. Their popular multiview feature from the Paris 2024 streaming is set to return for the Winter Paralympics, but no details have been released even at this late date. No broadcaster for European television has been announced.
Will You Be Watching?
Do you think you will tune in to watch the Winter Paralympics next year? It is often a multi-layered catch-22 with parasport. How can we watch something that isn’t on? How can we become fans of a sport we never see? But then broadcasters don’t air parasport because fans don’t ask for it.
As for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics, we will be watching! Do you think I can find my limit of watching sled hockey? (So far, the answer has been that there is no limit). Let us know what you want to hear on the podcast over the next year to get you ready and excited for Milano-Cortina 2026!
–Alison Brown