Tag: Paralympic

Posted on

Games over

All nice things eventually come to an end. So do the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.
The images have been impressive of both events and the millions of spectators give a good testimony in this respect. The cultural by-program of the Games was equally remarkable. The live performances of dancers not only on the opening and closing ceremonies attracted big audiences. Many well-known sites of Paris prepared their own events and inspired as well as entertained the visitors.
On the small stage in front of the “Marie de Paris”, the city hall (Image below), ballet performances (video) were staged to hint at the possibility to see more artistic performances throughout the year in Paris opera houses and other stages.
Showcasing many forms of cultural, inspiring and entertaining events gave a valuable additional flavour to the Paris Olympics. Many good reasons to come back and renew unique moments in Paris beyond 2024. Paris hotels will be more accessible again for moderate budgets and waiting times for entries should come down to normal levels as well. Back to a new normal for Paris. Well, maybe. The millions of spectators who followed the Games on television and social media might eventually decide to rank Paris higher in the “cities you have to go to at least once in your lifetime”.

Posted on

Paralympic Counting

The classification system of the Paralympic disciplines is well worked out. This ensures that competitions are on a more equal footing. The counting of medals, points and penalties is an easy task. It is more difficult to keep track of equipment and infrastructure and the adaptation status of it to Paralympic needs in a country or region. Statistics and monitoring of installations is one important step in preparing for participation and success in Paralympic disciplines. On an European open data platform we find the regional data set of “Parasportive equipment in clubs and committees of the Pays de la Loire”, for example. Transparency of structures is a first step in improving access to it. For Paralympic athletes it is the same process to gain access to sport equipment as for all other athletes. The monitoring of infrastructure and equipment is a laborious task, but the documentation of helps people on their way to obtain access. Paralympic counting, therefore, is much more than counting medals and trophies even if they are really nice looking.

Posted on

Olympic Medals

The distribution of Olympic medals across continents reveals the persistent inequality of rewards across the globe. The first African country in the overall ranking of countries by Olympic medals is Kenya on 17th place. All 11 medals including 4 gold medals were obtained in athletics and in running disciplines 800m and more. The financial resources needed to practice running as high level sport are probably the lowest one of all disciplines. Ethiopia is another African country with this tradition of high level long distance runners on the African continent. Equipment and coaching in other disciplines than athletics involves more infrastructure and becomes more costly and the possibility to reserve infrastructure for elite athletes of a country is more difficult if the infrastructure for the population at large is rather limited compared to the population size. Therefore, the Olympic tradition has to confront the challenge of unequal access to many disciplines of the Olympic Games also in Paris 2024. Being a very good athlete is just not enough if you lack the coaches, training and facilities to be able to compete with the well-equipped countries. The knowledge about the best details of a specific technique or optimization potentials are part of the Olympic challenges as well. The Americas, Europe and Asia might be confronted with new forms or another criticism of imperialist strategies, this time in the domain of sport. The winner or medalists take all. Country rankings appear a bit like the football device “money buys goals”. (Image, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, Extrait of Omar Victor Diop “Diaspora” 2014-2015).

Posted on

Paralympic Happiness

It is with great pleasure that we watch the paralympic athletes in Paris compete for Olympic medals. For many the emotions of participation and being applauded by so many people in a sport arena are great experiences. Happiness derives from such great games and audiences. The accomplishments of the athletes and their supporting teams are truly outstanding. The progress towards such high skill levels is remarkable for each of them. The adaptation to what appears to be a handicap with adequate support and technique allows to surpass limitations. Well exercised skills like swimming are possible to be performed with great skill to achieve incredible performances. The Paralympic Games in Paris 2024 are a great reminder that besides the athletes some artists had to struggle with handicaps, but achieved some of the finest pieces of art. Matisse, for example, is called frequently “le peintre-du-bonheur”, the painter of happiness. In his last few years he faced a severe handicap to paint, however the pursuit of abstraction helped him to continue to create masterpieces. The rather radical pursuit of abstraction and maybe simplification are uncovered in the exhibition “Matisse: The red studio” at the “Fondation Louis Vuitton”. This marks an important step in the artistic life course of Matisse and enabled him to continue his work in later life when his health made it very difficult to pursue his artistic work. (Image at Fondation Louis Vuitton 2024-9-1 exhibition Matisse).