Paralympics
Only here, instead of in the middle of it
A fusion of Olympic and Paralympic Games will be discussed, but a common Foundation between the sports associations are missing. Pioneer in Canada and the UK.
George Eyser almost no one remembers today. At the Olympic Games in St. Louis in 1904, the US-Americans, the third most successful athletes. The gymnast won six medals, one in Bronze, two in silver and three in Gold, he won, among other things, in the Tauhangeln. With 14 Eyser from Germany moved to the USA, but that’s what made his story so special. He won his medals with a wooden leg, which he had worn since a train crash. Eyser, the first athlete with a disability at the Olympics was, more than a century ago.
Since then, athletes with a disability at the most important sporting event in the world participated in the recent past, the swimmer Natalie Du Toit and Sprinter Oscar Pistorius from South Africa, or only this year, the Iranian Archer Zahra Nemati. The lower leg amputee long jumper Markus Rehm, conversely, struggled in vain to get a Start in Rio, he could not prove beyond doubt that his prosthesis is not an advantage. There are different biographies, which run together to a question. Include athletes with and without disabilities on the same stage?
The core sports are showing little willingness to talk
Inclusion: this term the debate will be summarised. Is what I meant with the equal participation of people with disabilities. A counter-model to the special treatment of disabled people, as it was propagated in the second half of the last century. Perfect for inclusion in the performance sport would mean the merger of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Again and again this idea of politicians or people is required for learning law. However, do not neglect just the sheer size of an event with probably 16,000 participants. They fail to grasp an important fact: In top-level sport, the common Foundation is missing.
Oscar Pistorius took part in the Olympic Games in London 2012
The International Paralympic Committee had not adopted the 2007 decision, to look at the latest in 2016, as a professional Association. The Plan: the disabled and non-disabled athletes are to be in the same structures of the sports. However, still today, the IPC needs to align Championships in ten sports in the world. In ten out of a total of 22 Paralympic sports – including the Olympic core sports of athletics and Swimming, because their world federations IAAF and FINA show little interest in broadening horizons for athletes with a disability.
“It is the willingness to talk and the reprint is missing,” says Jörg Frischmann, managing Director of sports for the disabled Department at Bayer Leverkusen. Originated In Germany are included in the pattern of centres, for example in Swimming in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen or in athletics in Leverkusen, Germany. But a comprehensive equality it is not, says fresh man: “We have even taken steps backward.”
Respect for the prosthesis
The German flag carrier, Markus Rehm: the prosthesis to the world record
The inclusion debate has been recently reduced to Markus Rehm. Many of the Ignorant the impression could arise, that one must be in it for a world record just a prosthesis. Since then, man inclusive Junior has fresh competitions are also parents experienced, who wanted to warn their children: “Pass”, they said. “The Boy has a prosthesis, has the advantage.” Exception-rounder, such as Rehm, however, are not representative. The media’s admiration culture for High-Tech prostheses can even exert unconscious pressure on people with fresh amputations.
“Teachers and coaches should be able to work with difference”, says Thomas Abel, Professor of Paralympic sports at the sports University in Cologne. “Therefore, we need to align the didactics of the beginning of inclusion.” Not always such serious disabilities can a common, so inclusive sports RUB, due to a lack of accessibility in the halls or various training programs. But even then, one could emphasize the similarities, Abel. In Cologne, the future of the sport be made available to teachers with wheelchair basketball familiar, a team sport in which non-disabled can easily participate, similar to sitting volleyball or Goalball.
Advertising for a barrier-free village
Internationally, the United Kingdom and Canada set the Standard, there trainer training, anti-doping fight, or premiums based rules in the same Association network of disabled and non-disabled athletes. So, it has established itself in the Sport is a respectful treatment of the Participants transferred to their everyday lives. The accelerator of this development, the hosts were roles in the Paraylmpics in London in 2012 and in Vancouver in 2010.
By hosting the Paralympics in 2010 learned: Canada
In the age of scandal as a top sports-and-dagger the Paralympics might be in search of a new Narrative more than a footnote. Whether tourism economy, Housing, age-friendly, barrier-free media or: an inclusive Association of beings – in Germany, too, would have brought a longer application phase for Olympic and Paralympics neglected topics. For the summer games in Hamburg in 2024, the organizers attracted a consistently barrier-free Olympic village in regard to an inclusive district of tomorrow. The public and media interest: low.
Triathlon and Canoeing are considered to be advanced
The world of progress is manageable. The German Triathlon Union and International Triathlon Union, for example, a high value on the cooperation of Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The competitions usually take place in the same locations. You benefit from the same spectators, coaches, volunteers. “We are fully inclusive,” says the triathlete Stefan solver, visibly proud of. “We will be welcomed with open arms”. Others, including patterns of sports: Canoeing, Cycling, or table tennis.
“We need a grass-roots debate”, asks Verena Bentele, former biathlete, and since 2014 the disabled Commissioner of the Federal government. And then, sometime in the distant future, one could think perhaps about the merger of the Olympic and Paralympic games.