Leaping past odds

Every time you watch videos of Thangavelu Mariyappan’s amazing gold-medal winning high jump or Dutch table tennis player Kelly van Zon’s spectacular diving shot at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, you applaud that indomitable spirit which helped them overcome physical limitations and excel in sports.

However, the gap between the Paralympics and the Olympics — the highest stage of sporting excellence — is yawning.

It has to be. And it is better not to compare.

The physically-challenged athletes deserve to be in a league of their own for the sheer courage they show to overcome odds and perform in competitive sports. Each of their efforts underlines the para-athletes’ never-ending quest for ‘respectability’ and also reignites the comparison between them and able-bodied sportspersons.

Unlike the Olympics, the Paralympics made a low-profile start with about 400 athletes from 23 countries in 1960, but grew steadily popular to finally host 4,350 athletes from 160 countries competing in 22 sports at the Rio Games. These figures may look small when juxtaposed against the Olympics. But they become awesome when you take into account the oft-unheard stories of the Paralympics.

“It is far more challenging than the Olympics because we need the support of specially-designed equipment and escorts to perform,” says HN Girisha, the London Paralympics silver medallist.

Based on the level of disability, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has chalked out a classification system tailored for each sport. The broad classification includes physical impairment, visual impairment and intellectual disability.

Each of these categories is sub-divided to reflect finer degrees of disability and aims to club together athletes with similar disadvantages to create a level playing field.

To ensure attention to the Paralympic Games, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee work together to hold it alongside the Olympics, even while giving the latter its distinct identity.

All the developed nations, points out Girisha, understand the importance of Paralympics and give their para-athletes due recognition. “Unfortunately, in India, people think it is a social cause,” he says.

Perhaps, that is the biggest battle the Indian para-athletes are fighting at present. Despite India sending the largest-ever contingent of 19 athletes to the Paralympics, media coverage prior to the Games was abysmal. To top that, even the actual event is not broadcast here, reflecting the prevailing mindset.

Civilian Welfare Foundation, a Kolkata-based NGO, with the help of Reverend Zen Nio, the first person of Indian origin to serve as chaplain in the Rio Olympics and Paralympics, raised its voice against this apathy. “People do not realise how important India is in the Olympics and Paralympics… If you are giving 90 per cent coverage to other news, give 10 per cent space for your para-athletes,” says Nio.

Sudip Baidya, wheelchair basketball player, who has seen both sides of life and does not want to go back to his life before the accident, says, “Better coverage will make spectators watch our sports and help us live like normal people. We don’t need sympathy; we want to connect with people.”

Thankfully, a private television company has arranged to show highlights of Indian performances in Rio, and other media houses, disappointed with India’s below-par showing in the Olympics, had reasons to celebrate when Devendra Jhajharia and Mariyappan bagged gold and Varun Singh Bhati won the bronze in javelin and high jump respectively.

Deepa Malik’s shot put silver was indeed a silver lining, for she has made history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal in the Paralympics. Her feat attracted the attention of the international media, including the BBC, as also that of Indian scribes.

However, Girisha contemplates the still lukewarm response from corporate houses. “While BMWs are being offered to Olympic medallists and to someone who has finished fourth, there is no such announcement for the medal-winning para-athletes. Only State governments and the Centre have announced cash awards.”

Girisha’s grievance may not be rooted in envy. Apart from the government support, the para-athletes haven’t got much help from the corporate sector.

Social media is flooded with congratulatory messages for the Paralympics medal winners. The line blurs as one wonders if this show of appreciation is of genuine admiration or sympathy. It hardly matters as long as it contributes in breaking a barrier.

Notwithstanding his conviction in a murder case, South African double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorious, popularly the ‘Blade Runner’, tried to break this barrier by competing in both the Paralympics and Olympics.

India needs such a barrier-breaking iconic performer to lift the status of para-sports in the country. But performers alone cannot make a difference. The Indian federation, which is often in the news for its infighting, has to set its house in order and take care of the para-athletes to ring in positive change. After all, charity begins at home.

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