in the Paralympics, an event for athletes with disabilities usually held shortly after the main Olympic games.
You can be excused for not knowing about it, though, since NBC, which broadcast the main Olympics on several cable networks in addition to the NBC network, will not be covering the Paralympics
at all.
http://stuarthughes.blogspot.com/2004/09/american-broadcasters-ignore-20-of.htmlAt the Sydney 2000 Paralympics for example, Nigerian amputee Ajibola Adoeye was just nine-tenths of a second off the Olympic record for the men’s 100m dash. Some Paralympic powerlifters bench pressed over 273 kilos (approximately 602 pounds), and Australia's Troy Sachs scored 42 points in a basketball game in the 1996 Games, which is higher than the Olympic record for a single player.
What I hadn't considered was how the medal tally affected the U.S' standing overall. At Sydney, Australia brought home the most medals (149), including by far the most gold medals (63). Britain came in second overall with 131, and the US brought home the third-largest number of medals (109). When the countries were ranked by the values of their medals, though, the US slid to fifth, behind Spain and Canada - not a position that the U.S is overly familiar with in most things. (Certainly not in war! -Ed.)
This poor showing is understandable when you consider that the US Olympic Committee (USOC) absolutely shafts its Paralympic athletes. If you want to see the second-class status of disabled people displayed in a microcosm, look no further. The USOC typically gives a paltry 1.5 percent of its spend to disabled athletes during non-Olympic years, and in 2000 it didn't give any money at all to Paralympic athletes. The Executive Committee of the USOC doesn't contain a representative of the Paralympics, and only four of 122 people on the Board of Directors represent disabled athletes.
The USOC won't insure disabled athletes, nor does it allow them to use its residential training facilities. In Sydney, every US Olympian who won a medal got up to $25,000 per medal, but Paralympian medalists got nothing. Many countries house their Paralympians in the Olympic Village, but the US does not. Other countries allow their Paralympians to march in the opening ceremony of the Olympics, but the US does not. The USOC doesn't even provide Paralympic athletes with full regulation uniforms.Anyone remember the archer who opened the 1992 Barcelona Olympics by shooting a flaming arrow into the Olympic torch? He uses a wheelchair because of polio -- and competed in the main Olympics. Then, of couse, there was Muhammad Ali at the Atlanta Games...
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
