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Paralympics

September 9, 2021

When the Paralympics started after 2 weeks of when the Olympic Games had ended, maybe a lot of people in this country didn't think that they would be excited about watching the Paralympics. He didn't. The Paralympics' history is long. But, he didn't have a lot of memories about the games in the past Paralympics. But this time, he had to say they were very exciting, and will remain in his memories. He thought that the organizers of the Paralympics had been constantly thinking of the rules and how to improve them. There are a lot of events, and several classes for the various handicapped conditions which are broad and the requirements for each is elaborate. He didn't know well, but from the comments of the commentators on TV, he found that those types of worldwide games are held every year in various countries. He was amazed at the various scenes. Blind soccer athletes elaborately possessed and kicked the ball, which had bells inside. They were very skillful at dribbling the ball among the opponent players as well. Wheel-chair basketball players shot 3 point goals, they used the same courts, same lines, and the same goal height(!) as regular players. The teams strategies varied using each player's body' function's disabilities to an advantage, so that a very weak player could stop strong players using their wheelchair skills.   Long jumpers who had one or two prosthetic (artificial) legs jumped long distances. Blind runners who ran with a supporter, an accompanying runner who is bound with the runner with a rubber band in order to show the course. The commentator explained that the only rule was that the runner would be disqualified if the supporter goes ahead of the runner at the finish line. It was funny that in the 'butterfly' races, swimmers who didn't even have either of their hands swam with their legs, called dolphin kicks. Of course, 'funny' isn't a suitable word. He found that there was a typical difference between the Paralympics athletes and the Olympics athletes, it was their ages. The Paralympics' athletes' ages are rather older than the Olympics' players. Why? He started to think and got some ideas: ・Some athletes started their sports after they got an accident. They said that they were recommended, or happened to see those sports, which encouraged them. ・It would take a long time to get accustomed to play with the person's disability, blindness, no leg(s)/hand(s), etc., as well as to play using a prosthetic hand(s)/leg(s). ・Their challenge has been very big. They have a lot of room for improvement, and their development would be bigger than aging. ・If they use some machine or apparatus, for example a wheel chair, it helps the players to play for a long time to get more experience. Almost all of medalists mentioned their gratitude for their supporters during their TV interviews. A female marathon gold medalist who was handed her medal was about to, instead of hanging it on her own neck, hang it on her support runner's neck, although the partner declined it politely. But, to think about it, how many people had helped her? The answer might beyond our imagination. Speaking of blind runners and their supporters, it was funny, (funny isn't a suitable word again), that in the blind 100m dash final race, there was no support runners, because nobody could support their level of speed! Actually, development of their skills and equipment level was amazing. Makers' efforts for wheelchairs as well as prosthetic limbs should be respected. In Boccia, in which a baseball-sized ball is used in a curling-like game, a mother helped the player, who was her son, to set up a special piece of equipment and the balls for him, since her son could only move a little bit. It reminded us of family love. The athletes' speeches were full of tips for us to live. "Do not insist on our disability, but concentrate on what we can do." "Do not set our own limits ourselves." "Do not make an excuse for our disability. We can do it if we don't give up." Maybe all of them had once thought, "Why me?" Some of them must have cursed God. He couldn't imagine about their daily life challenges in society. But he could feel their pride when one of the medalists said, "If I could change this medal for my lost legs, I would refuse it."

No.445



*requirement : 必要なもの、必要条件
*prosthetic : 人工的補完の
*apparatus : 器具