PARALYMPIC HEROES

PARALYMPIC HEROES

✦ The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics were an absolute triumph in so many ways with an array of stereotype-defying, record-shattering performances witnessed.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics may have come after the Olympics on a timeline perspective but there was no doubt that the competing athletes and their tales of triumph over adversity were at least on parity after a pulsating 13-day festival of sport in the Japanese capital.

The COVID-19 pandemic that is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to derail and disrupt so much may have delayed the Games by a full year but it could not, ultimately, stop the event and all the wonderful stories that emerged from happening.

It was a genuine marvel to witness so many gifted athletes plying their trade despite serious impairment and a reminder to the world during difficult times that, no matter what your challenge may be, you can always rise above it and prevail.

The Games not only had breathtaking feats on the court, the track, in the pool and elsewhere but was littered with sub-plots that only added to the magical spirit of the occasion.

There was the story of two Afghan paralympians who feared they would be trapped in their homeland under the newly-established Taliban regime and miss out altogether on their dream of competing in Tokyo.

A last minute “secret evacuation” after a video plea saw the pair finally arrive in Japan via Paris. One of the athletes had arrived late and missed his discipline but organisers arranged for him to participate in another event so as he could realise his dream.

There were tales of veterans from Afghanistan competing. Australian canoeist Curtis McGrath, who lost his legs while serving, won his second

Paralympics gold in the men’s KL2 canoe sprint and American Brad Snyder, who was blinded while serving in country, became the first American man to win gold in the triathlon in the Paralympics or Olympics.

Team GB cycling legend Sarah Storey became Britain’s most successful Paralympian after winning her 17th gold medal, a full 29 years after winning her first and the men’s wheelchair basketball team upset the odds to win gold.

There was British badminton player Krysten Coombs stepping into a starring role to win bronze in the men’s competition. Coombs was used to the big occasion having served as a part-time actor in hit TV show Game Of Thrones!

Love was most certainly in the air when blind runner Keula Nidreia Pereira Semedo of Cape Verde received a marriage proposal from her partner and guide runner of 11 years Manuel Antonio Vaz da Veiga.

Semedo admitted she had been considering retirement but that the proposal made her rethink. “Now I have an additional motivation to carry on after the Games, always with him by my side,” she said.

Australia had countless athletes with tales of triumph such as Port Macquarie’s Ryley Batt in the men’s wheelchair rugby and road cyclist Stuart Jones who was lauded when he slowed down in his race to offer words of encouragement to another athlete in a different race who was visibly struggling.

It was a moment that summed up all that was great about the 13 days of competition with respect, sportsmanship and camaraderie top of the list of priorities. Not all athletes won medals, of course, but each and everyone of them came away a true hero with a notion of triumph no piece of metal could ever provide, no matter the colour.

✷ Quite simply, every single athlete that competed at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games is a hero and deserves huge recognition, even if they didn’t quite manage to score a medal. Every single event and athlete that contested it was a triumph, regardless of the outcome and the final classification. It is therefore almost impossible to review a 13-day competition consisting of thousands of participants. So what we have tried to do here is pick a few of the highlights that lit up the competition and the living rooms of so many enthralled spectators watching from home all across the world.

- Ben Tirebuck