[위클리 리포트] The festival is not over… Paris Paralympic Games open on the 29th
A method of holding the Olympics consecutively in the host city… First introduced at the ’88 Seoul Olympics’
Disability-specific events divided into subcategories… 549 gold medals, 1.7 times the number of Olympics
Korea wins 9 consecutive gold medals in boccia, similar to curling… Challenging a record like ‘10 consecutive wins in women’s archery’
Medal-winning athletes receive pension benefits just like the Olympics… Gold, silver, and bronze points are awarded and paid out differentially every month
《Paris cheers again… Paralympic Games open on the 29th
The flame of hope is once again rising in the sky of Paris, France. The Paris Paralympic Games will begin with the opening ceremony at 3:00 AM on the 29th and will last for 12 days. The Korean team will aim for 5 or more gold medals in boccia and other sports, and a top 20 ranking.
The Paris Paralympics (Paralympics) will begin a 12-day competition starting with the opening ceremony at 3:00 AM on the 29th. Approximately 4,400 people from 182 countries around the world will participate. A total of 83 Korean athletes will compete in 17 events. The goal is to win at least 5 gold medals and be in the top 20 overall. We have compiled helpful Paralympic common sense into Q&A.
Q. Why are the Paralympic Games called the Paralympics?
It means to stand shoulder to shoulder with the non-disabled Olympics. According to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Paralympics is a combination of the Greek prefix ‘para’, meaning ‘beside’ or ‘equal’, and the word ‘Olympic’.
The fact that the Paralympics were held in the same city as the Olympics, using Olympic facilities, and being held in succession to the Olympics is a legacy left to the world of sports by the 1988 Seoul Games. The Paralympic torch relay was also first held at the Seoul Games.
However, in the beginning, it was called the Paralympics because it was a competition for paraplegic athletes. Later, its meaning expanded as it became a competition for other disabled people as well.
Q. France, which emphasizes tolerance, how is it preparing for the Paralympics?
This Paris Games marked the first time that the non-paralympic and paralympic games adopted the same emblem. Previously, even if the same organizing committee prepared the games, the emblems were usually different. The Paris Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee explained, “The flame, which is the core of the emblem, symbolizes the energy we share.”
However, while the Olympic emblem for the non-disabled is centered around the Olympic rings, the Paralympic emblem is centered around the agitos. The agitos, the symbol of the Paralympic Games, is Latin for “I move.” This agitos also has its roots in the 1988 Seoul Paralympic emblem.
The back of the Paris Paralympic medals is also identical to the non-disabled Olympics medals. It features a hexagonal Eiffel Tower iron sculpture with sun rays radiating out from it. The hexagon is named after the shape of France.
Q. There were 329 gold medals at the Paris Olympics, and 329 gold medals at the Paralympics.
At 549, it is 1.7 times more than the Olympics. The number of events in the Paralympics (22) is less than that in the non-disabled Olympics (32). However, the Paralympics have more gold medals because the events are divided according to the type and degree of disability.
Another characteristic of the Paralympics is that there are more officials than athletes, as non-disabled people, such as ‘guide runners’ who run alongside visually impaired athletes to help with the game. There are 94 Korean officials participating in this competition, 11 more than the athletes.
Q. Are there any athletes who compete in both the Paris Olympics and Paralympics?
Bruna Alexandri, a Brazilian representative who faced Korea in the round of 16 of the women’s team table tennis event at the Paris Olympics, will also compete in the Paralympics. Alexandri, who had her right shoulder amputated due to complications from the vaccine at just 6 months old, is ranked 182nd in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) women’s singles ranking and 6th in the standing class for the disabled.
There are athletes who have won medals at both the Olympics and the Paralympics. Hungary’s fencing team member, Pal Szekeresi, won a bronze medal in the men’s sabre team event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Szekeresi, who became wheelchair bound after a car accident in 1991, won three gold and three bronze medals in wheelchair fencing at the Paralympics from the 1992 Barcelona Games to the 2008 Beijing Games.
Q. Is Korea also at the top in Paralympic archery?
No, Korea has won 16 gold medals in Paralympic archery so far, which is third place after Great Britain (21) and the United States (20). Korea also lags behind Great Britain (68) and the United States (44) in total medals (42).
However, overall, countries that are strong in certain events in non-disabled sports are also strong in the Paralympics. China is the country that has won the most gold medals in Paralympic table tennis (78), and the United States is the country that has won the most gold medals in wheelchair basketball (13). Brazil has not missed a gold medal since the 2004 Athens Games when five-a-side soccer became an official Paralympic event.
Q. So, are there no stocks in which Korea is absolutely strong?
Boccia is one such example. Korea has won gold medals in this event nine times in a row since the 1988 Seoul Games, when boccia first became an official event, until the 2021 Tokyo Games. If they win at this Paris Games, they will have won 10 consecutive gold medals, just like the Olympic women’s team archery event.
Boccia, which is played by people with cerebral palsy, can be understood as a combination of marbles and curling. It is played by dividing the balls into six each of red and blue, and adding one point to the ball thrown closest to the white target ball.
Boccia is a sport that can only be seen in the Paralympics along with goalball. Goalball is a game where players try to throw a ball with a bell sound into the opponent’s goal. The Korean goalball team will be playing on the Paralympics stage for the first time in 28 years since the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Q. Since when has Korea participated in the Paralympics?
Korea has participated since the 3rd Games held in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1968. At that time, it did not win a single medal, but in the 1972 Heidelberg Games, it ranked 16th overall with 4 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze.
At the Heidelberg Games, Song Sin-nam, who became disabled during the Vietnam War, won the men’s singles in table tennis TT1 (the lower the number, the more severe the disability) and won Korea’s first gold medal. The first gold medal in a non-disabled Olympics was in the 1976 Montreal Games, so the Paralympics were four years earlier.
Korea will also send its first-time competitors to the canoe and triathlon events at this year’s Paris Games. Choi Yong-beom will compete in the canoe, and Kim Hwang-tae will compete in the triathlon. Both athletes are considered capable of winning a ‘surprise gold medal’.
Q. Do Korean athletes who win Paralympic medals also receive pension benefits?
Yes. Paralympic medalists also receive performance improvement research pension points (90 points for gold, 70 points for silver, and 40 points for bronze) just like non-disabled Olympic medalists.
Depending on this point, a pension is also provided. Gold is 1 million won per month, silver is 750,000 won, and bronze is 520,000 won. Until the 2004 Athens Games, there was a difference between Paralympic and non-paralympic medalists, but after the 2008 Beijing Games, this difference disappeared.
Reporter Kim Jeong-hun [email protected]
2024-08-24 11:24:38