The last five days have been awe-inspiring to put it
mildly. The Paralympians came, danced their way into the opening ceremony,
swam, cycled, ran, jumped and did everything else and more as the Olympians. All
this with an attitude that makes you wonder: How are they ‘Disabled’ or
even ‘Differently- Abled’?
This was the first time I was watching the
Paralympics and did not know what to expect. In the run-up to the games, the
media did a brilliant job of bringing us inspiring stories of the athletes they
called ‘superhumans’. Stories that defied every conventional notion of thought
on what is possible. Voices of the athletes who told us how they viewed their
disability and how they would like to be viewed. Esther Vergeer, the Dutch
wheelchair tennis legend, who is on an unbeaten record of winning 465 matches,
summed it up when she described herself as “cool”. Indeed, cool is what they
are!
Yet, I imagined the races to be easier, with shorter
lengths and less demanding conditions than the Olympic races. Except they are
not! The Paralympians swim and run the same distances, while being grouped into
different categories based on their conditions. They cycle in pretty much the
same events: Individual and team pursuits and sprints, Time-Trials etc. They
jump: both high and long. And you really have to see them play basketball: the
speed with which they move across the court, the aggression with which they
claim possession of the ball and the deftness with which they propel their
chair while dribbling the ball. It is turning out to be my favorite sport.
My first hair-raising moment of the games was seeing
Iaroslaw Semeneko of Ukraine swim 100m backstroke. With no arms! He used his
legs to propel him forward and banged his head against the wall to finish 2
seconds ahead of his German competitor. Not to be outdone, Lu Dong of China
accomplished a similar feat in the women’s event. Jessica Long, who was adopted
from a Siberian orphanage lost both her legs when she was 18 months old. She
won her first swimming gold at Athens at the age of 12! She is the current
world record holder in 13 swimming events, no less. If you are wondering about
her attitude, you only have to read what she headlines on her website: “Gold
medals are not made of gold. They are made of sweat, determination and a hard-
to- find alloy called guts”.
Hop to the velodrome and one finds superhuman
cyclists with one arm or half a leg sprinting away. Some of them display their
‘coolness’ with painted prosthetics. The most awe-inspiring story has to be of
double gold medalist Sarah Storey (GB), who was born without a left arm, was a
Paralympic swimming champion from 1992 to 2005 after which she took up cycling.
And won gold! She is not finished yet as she is racing on the road. Triathlon
next, Sarah?
The track is replete with superstars. Oscar
Pistorious, Jason Smith, Martin Mckillop, Terezinha Guellermina, David Weir and
new kids on the block like Alan Oliveira.
The question, then, is how are they ‘disabled’ or
‘differently-abled’? If ability is the ‘quality to be able to do something’,
these Paralympians have smashed the definition. They are anything but
‘disabled’ and certainly not ‘differently-abled’. They are simply able. Period.
These Games have been massive in propelling the
Paralympic movement forward. The record sell-out of tickets and the
overwhelming enthusiasm of the spectators show the appreciation for the
seriousness of Paralympic sport, for they are serious athletes who train as
hard. Most train alongside ‘able-bodied’ athletes. I would like to imagine a
day when we have their timings and records on the edge of our tongues and
discuss them as we do with other sports. That would truly mean mainstreaming
the Paralympics.
If there is one thing the games and athletes
represent, it is the limitlessness of human potential. They showcase what we
are capable of and yet we don’t know. They indeed are ‘Spirit in motion’.
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