Interesting bit on the Olympics vs. the Paralympics that Chris forwarded me from his friend Cheri, an elite wheelchair racer who finished 5th in the women’s 800-meter wheelchair race — an “exhibition” — this past week in Athens. I was surprised to hear that the Paralympics are so well-covered in other countries, but not here; it makes me frustrated to realize that the U.S. is still acting in such a backwards manner by not treating Paralympics athletes in the same manner as their Olympic counterparts. The media puts such a focus on winning medals, and yet ignores Paralympians entirely, all because of politics and money.
I can provide a bit of clarification. The wheelchair racing event is an exhibition in the Olympics, and is there to promote the Paralympics. When it was started as an exhibition, in 1984, there was still a large push for integration of the Olympics and Paralympics. Now, there seems to be more of a push for “seperate but equal.” The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the one promoting this agenda, and currently works with the International Olympic Comimttee (IOC) to stage this event in the Olympics.
There was no NBC coverage of our event (aside from a quick blurb at about 3 am that one of my friends happened to catch), nor will there be any coverage of the Paralympics on any major network in the U.S. The BBC, Eurosport, and almost all other major sports networks worldwide will be covering the Paralympics in primetime broadcasts every night, however, here in the U.S. the best we as athletes can do is tell our friends to check the BBC disability sport website (which is awesome, by the way).
Why is this? In short, the United States Olympic Comittee, which also runs the Paralympics, has failed for many years to create equal opportunities for Olympians and Paralympians, and one area where this disparity is especially troubling is in the selling of media rights and media sponsorships for the Paralympics. In addition, the major Olympic sponsors that FUND NBC (the ones with the cash that REALLY control what gets shown) also have not stepped up to the plate to request Paralympic coverage. There is currently a lawsuit against the USOC from Scot Hollonbeck and a few other athletes that deals with this – most directly regarding the fact that the USOC has closed the Paralympic market from a sponsorship standpoint. Unfortunately, as we all know, here in the U.S., money talks.
This is why everyone in the world OUTSIDE of the U.S. knows what the Paralympics is and who their national Paralympic stars are. The Paralympics are breaking down disability barriers and misconceptions all over the world. Yet here in the U.S. we as athletes struggle to be able to tell our families back home that they can watch us compete.
This exhibition event, as cool as it is (I?m not complaining that they have it – in my opinion it was pretty damn fun :), actually also complicates things even more. Because it is not a full medal event, the IOC has placed restrictions on us as participants. Two months before the event we recieved a memo stating that, among other things, that: 1) we would not be allowed to march in opening ceremonies, 2)we would only be able to live in the Olympic village for days, and 3)we were not guaranteed to be housed with our teams. Although this is not a direct USOC ruling, it still leaves the door open for further discrimination and segregation of wheelchair athletes. We had a meeting with IOC and IPC administrators after the event in reponse to bad press that went out in Canada and around Europe with regards to this discrimination. As athletes, requested that, based on the tenets of respect, equality, and for the growth of the sport, this event needs to be either full-medal or not happen at all in the future. Because the word exhibition makes it lie in such a grey area, in many ways it?s doing more bad than good. We definately want it to occur, and want desperately to promote the Paraympics, but in a respectful manner…
Sorry so long…it?s a complicated issue. For now I just try to push fast and enjoy it without getting mared by the politics. 
