Paralympics to be scaled down

[Mummyme1987]

Just heard this on the news.

Cant wait to hear Adam Hills take on this. The Last Leg should be back on Channel 4 by then.

I really hope that some organisations will step in to help the athletes to take part in the Paralympic Games. I am really looking forward to it, equally as much as the games we have at the moment. How awful to be training for all this time and have your hopes dashed not long before they are due to take part.

I was in the Olympic stadium on Thriller Thursday with 80,000 people. The atmosphere was amazing, I have never heard such a wall of sound. I also have no doubt that the atheletes I saw were world class. I have a friend who saw both the Olympics and the Paras and she said the atmosphere was exactly the same.

Whilst London couldn't just step in, it seems to me that it would be possible to scatter the events that have been cancelled across a number of countries fairly quickly. We could definitely pick something up here.

It's likely to be the smaller countries that are affected, those that don't have a dedicated Paralympic body like the richer nations.

You won't have to wait that long Helena. The last leg gang are the official C4 Paralympics presenters

I've got 3 friends at the games this year. I'm far more interested and invested in the Paralympics than the Olympics. It's disgraceful how little acclaim these athletes get.

The IPC, not the IOC. They are different events, and different organisations I think. The London Paralympics were fabulous.

I have been an avid follower of the Paralympics all my life - even when all the coverage they got was 30 minutes highlights on c4 if they were lucky. I am gutted for this. I loved going when it was in London, and chose that over the standard Olympics when trying for tickets.

I hate the they go as an after thought, that they are after the closing of the games and arent celebrated in the same way. Tammi grey Thompson was my favourite athlete from the age of 10.

I am so gutted for this. :-(

I only ever saw the London Paralympics.... No other country seems to promote them as well as London did

Helena Adam Hills & co. should be heading to Rio soon - according to Channel Four, The Last Leg will be broadcasting live every night from Rio. I agree though, their take will be interesting!

it's probably too late to do much about it this time
All that time training in the last 4 years wasted, it's a bloody disgrace.
It should be the catalyst for change for subsequent Olympic hosts though, they should be able to show upfront that they have the money ready and ring fenced to cover all eventualities in both the Olympics and the Paralympics (which is what I thought happened anyway but obviously not) and the IOC and IPC should be constantly overseeing the spending (again, maybe naively I assumed that happened). It's got to be tightened up to avoid it happening again.
Maybe scaling back all the money they must spend on the opening and closing ceremonies could help, and luxuries paid for by the competing countries with all athletes in both disciplines being covered equally.

Very sad. London2012 had an infinite supply of money - went triple over budget. Brazil cant do that.

Can't wait to hear what the last leg has to say.

London looted the lottery money, Rio doesn't have a pot like that to do the same.

Also they shipped the army in to add to spectators where tickets were unsold, like football. Rio can't do that either.

It's awful Disabled athletes are going to need lot more planning and equipment and resources than standard not like you are likely to turn up and be able to find another accomadation with all hoists, wet rooms etc they seemed to be struggling get even basics in for other athletes.

When they say cutting back on transport I'm not sure how this will work if you need Wherlchair accesable transport and there just isn't enough.

If they were running out money they should have cut back some events on both not fully olympics then just cut back on para abd hope no one notices.

Mum, I think past countries have promoted them- but the UK media haven't given them the coverage or the respect they deserve

I follow the Paralympics on Twitter, and was tweeted this.

mydonatetelethonsappeals.bt.com/donate/supercharge2016/

They could have Paralympics every 2 years and olympics 2 years later... A bit like footballs World Cup/euros

It's actually more economic to run one after the other because al the infrastructure is there. Once they are over dismantling starts.

I can see that they have to be one after another, but why not first?

I also am saddened and disheartened to hear this news - I love watching both sets of games (and despair at the difference in coverage). I can't believe that the IOC & IOC cannot step in and sort this out - disgraceful

I can see that they have to be one after another, but why not first?

Yes, totally agree, or as StillDrSeth suggested, at the same time. Totally seems like an after thought as it stands.

Absolutely love watching it, I hope they are able to get all the athletes there.

I just hate the afterthought feeling

It's a disgrace and the IOC needs to step in.

It should just be the Olympic Games and they take place concurrently, not one before the other, and financed collectively, not separately. I agree with this wholeheartedly, the paralympics isn't some poor relation afterthought.

I think we also should take into account the zika virus. This has stopped a lot of people travelling to Rio as spectators.

Demand for tickets for the Olympics has been much lower than expected so it's pretty obvious than the less popular Paralympics would suffer even more from lack of spectators.