What explains the popularity of the Paralympics in the UK?

Here is the article i was quoting from:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/24/world-paras-could-return-2019-london-embraced-event

Tickets were on sale for something like £10 max. Compare that to the average ticket for IAAF, which is £50 minimum.

Hi Rojo,

I think it really exploded off the back of the 2012 London Olympics where many of our paralympians were seen as being as big and heroic as the able bodied athletes. There was a huge amount of media attention given to them then and it was fueled by a great comedy show called 'The Last Leg'

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-last-leg

This show is still running 5 years on in its own right and has done a lot to bring disabilities into the mainstream.

There is also the argument that the UK invests a lot of money into funding for paralympic athletes and so this is rightly being recognized by the public in general who like to see a return for the cash with so many medals being won - the UK is pretty much always close to the top of the table at the paralympics so crowds are guaranteed to see many home winners.

I'm not sure if the huge interest will be maintained but I suspect it will so long as the funding remains to help the athletes bring in success which in turn is happily reported in the media.

Hope that helps explain it a little!

I know a few people who went, and some who went to the Diamond League a few weeks before, as spectators and helpers. All that went to both preferred the paralympics. The reasons they gave were varied.

Lots of inspiring stories and athletes overcoming adversity. Very likeable athletes

More middle distance races going on due to variants. A lot more going on overall than with the London Diamond League

The athletes were so much easier to admire, much less ego and most were content to be a part of the event, much less of the medal or nothing attitude.

Whether true or not there is an assumption that the drugs issue is not a factor.

Yes, Europe and especially the UK, supports the Paralympic movement better than anywhere else in the world. There are actually professional wheelchair basketball leagues over there. My thought on the popularity of Para sports in Europe hinges on the care that veterans receive and the growth of the movement from a military perspective (and funding as pointed out in another reply)

The Paralympic movement has its roots in post-war England at Stokes Mandville Hospital. Dr. Ludwig Guttmann organized sporting competition for veterans with spinal cord injuries rehabbing at the hospital on the same day as the 1948 Olympic opening ceremonies. The only field event was the shot put and everyone threw from a day chair, there were no track events. In 1960 the Stokes Mandville Games were moved to Rome and contested after the Olympic Games. These are considered by many to be the first Paralympics.

After witnessing the Warrior Games presented by the US Department of Defense Prince Harry started the Invictus Games. Both are sporting competition for wounded, injured and ill service members from collation countries and have recently received exposure on ESPN.

Athlete classification categories have grown as participation is no longer limited to athletes that use wheelchairs. Some within the community even question the inclusion of Class-20 athletes (intellectual disabilities).

The US has an abundance of niche sports that must fight for exposure and it may be some time before Para T&F is accepted in the mainstream. However, last week USATF did award it's first national championship medals at a meet held in conjunction with Adaptive Sports USA.

The Paralympics are pretty awesome to watch. I think they make for better competitors, more compelling interest stories and the athletes are more "human" (versus Olympians.) I wish they were on TV more.

However, last week USATF did award it's first national championship medals at a YOUTH meet held in conjunction with Adaptive Sports USA.

the word youth was omitted

Did rojo forget his password?

UK woman with the r*ck?

Just as X-Factor gave us "inspirational stories" with mediocre singing, so the Brits now embrace the Para"Olympics" fuelled by political correctness and ignorance.

To win one of 20 different categories of the same event, depending on the degree of your disability, is to be the biggest fish in an incredibly small pond. It is far less impressive than winning the local village fete 5K.

Yet the BBC, motivated by a PC agenda, cannot miss a chance to do a feature on a gay athlete, to push articles on women's football next to the men's (despite an audience of about 1% in comparison) and to tell us that Dame Tammi Grey (the female equivalent of a knighthood) is one of the greatest ever Olympians because she has so many "olympic" medals. Despite the fact that thousands of athletes who may not even win the local 5K train harder and are better athletes.

But by ignoring just how small, or rather tiny or even miniscule, the pond is, the Beeb make these fish look huge! Throw in the X-Factor style backstory and the sappy British public lap it up.

For the record, I have no issue with the concept of a games for disabled athletes - let them get their medals, break their records and have their drugs tests. What pisses me off is the public being conned into thinking that 5 para golds is worth 5 Olympic medals. That's like comparing an orange to the bloody sun!

Sounds like, essentially British are nicer than other folk.

The British are all disabled so it's their normal.

They should have added competitive eating with categories for number of teeth.

Bad Wigins wrote:

The British are all disabled so it's their normal.

They should have added competitive eating with categories for number of teeth.

And foulness of the food consumed.

The average Brit identifies with amputees and disabled people because they are also missing body parts. Teeth in this case.

Brits love an underdog - just watch any Wimbledon final when the losing individual is down a set or two. Same applies for disabled athletes. Nothing more British than slapping adversity in the face.

Para Coach wrote:

Yes, Europe and especially the UK, supports the Paralympic movement better than anywhere else in the world.

Except China, obviously.

Should the question actually be "why are the paralympics so completely invisible and ignored in the US?"

Really the right question? wrote:

Should the question actually be "why are the paralympics so completely invisible and ignored in the US?"

Your average American thinks disabilities are punishments from god for indiscretions in previous lives.

Cos the UK have and pt so much more money into it than other nations. Especially poorer ones - it just isn't a level playing field & total joke I think.