Dear All,
This debate about the Olympics and Paralympics is of greqt
interest. As a former Paralympian I have been conducting
research on it for sometime.
You may wish to have a look at my recent book 'The
Cultural Politics of the Paralympic Games' published by
Routledge this year. This volume addresses many of the
issues debated on the listserve.
All the best
David
Dr. P. David Howe
Deputy Director,
Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport
Loughborough University
UK
On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:37:58 -0400
mariab <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
> Russell,
> Thank you for your response. I'm not sure I understand
>the notion of too
> "huge". Do you mean 16 days are too long, too costly?
>
> I was not suggesting that disabled athletes compete with
>non disabled,
> unless they qualify, but rather that the closing of the
>games be the
> same after the Paralympics are finished.
>
> In any case why would one not wait to do the closing
>till after the
> Paralympics? Would that not save $$ since from what I
>understand the
> Olympics closing ceremony is quite costly and then the
>opening and closing
> of the Paralympics is also somewhat costly? At the same
>time it would
> encourage people who still think “disabled sport” as
> armature to see that
> sport by athletes with disability, is sport done
>professionally in a
> different way.
>
>
> Maria Barile
> Eco-Access
> www.ecoaccess.info
>
>
> In previous discussions on this topic one of the factors
>for the name
>> of Paralympics is that they are run in parallel to the
>>non-disabled
>> olympics. Other factors for not joining the two events
>>is size; with
>> incorporating all the events and the classification
>>needed the event
>> would be too huge for one single outing. The main thing
>>is that
>> Disabled athletes can participate in the events at the
>>Olympic games
>> if they meet the qualifying standards. You only have to
>>look at the
>> women's 10km swim in which one of the competitors was an
>>amputee and
>> of course I'm opening myself up for a raft of emails but
>>the other
>> athlete who could qualify is Michael Phelps. As someone
>>who has
>> competed at a fairly high level at Disabled games in New
>>Zealand I had
>> no wish to compete at Olympics because I wouldn't be
>>competing against
>> my peers.
>>
>> I guess it is a personal choice - I started competing
>>over 30 years
>> ago and have long since retired and I'm perfectly happy
>>on the
>> continuum of the Paralympics being held separately while
>>I did watch
>> some of the Olympics I will watch more of the
>>Paralympics because they
>> mean so much more to me. Personally and this is my
>>personal view
>> there is a continuum in disability and I'm alot further
>>down the
>> continuum and very happy with my stance, however it
>>doesn't mean that
>> I won't listen or take on board what others have to say
>>or feel. I
>> just ask that my view is also given the fair hearing
>>that sometimes
>> doesn't happy in the Disability community.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Russell
>>
>> Russell Vickery
>>
>>
>> On 25/08/2008, at 3:36 PM, Joni Yulianto wrote:
>>
>>>> This has been also my concern for a long time.
>>>>
>>>> In Indonesia, we have the national sport competition and
>>>>the
>>>> national sport competition for disabled held one after
>>>>the other
>>>> once four years. Even for type of sport competition
>>>>which in my
>>>> view could be held inclusively like chess, it is kept to
>>>>be held
>>>> separately. I think they are following the international
>>>>level
>>>> (olimpic and paralimpic).
>>>>
>>>> Regard, Joni
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Maria"
>>>><[log in to unmask]>
>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2008 3:37 PM
>>>> Subject: Beijing Olympics and Paralympics
>>>>
>>>>
>>
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