Paralympics to be scaled down

[Mummyme1987]

Just heard this on the news.

I'm surprised to hear there are travel grants. I assumed the attending countries paid to send their athletes not the host nation. Is it the same for the Olympics?
I thought they couldn't be run at the same time as there is not enough space for everyone. There is not enough accommodation for all the athletes which is one of the reasons they fly home once their events are finished.

So they've found £30million but its still not enough? That's a massive amount of money. If Brazil doesnt have the money lying about what can they do apart from economise. if people don't want to watch it then it's not viable.

I presumed the participating countries paid their athletes' travel grants as well.
I don't watch much of the paralympics. I feel that all the different classes and complicated eligibility rules often mean the least disabled athlete in that category wins.

This is Brazil's fault and I don't see why other countries should be bailing them out.

Feel v sad for the competitors.

[[https://m.paralympic.org/news/rio-2016-paralympic-games-deliver-positive-societal-change Here's the official report on it. ]] Always good to refer to facts rather than media hype sensationalism!

I wonder if London could step in and hold it instead? people said the same about the olympics!

Is this because Brazil can't afford to pay the travel grants? no it's because the olympic organisers in Brazil can't pay them, the Brazilian government has covered the cost.
There's no money to get them there, venues are closing and staff and security being scaled back. The money is there but had to be provided by other areas, government and state-run companies. Security is not being scaled back.
Brazil can't afford it they said. 10 countries aren't going now
See above and no one said they aren't going, they said may struggle. Chances are they will get there and they are getting maximum help.

People in Brazil are very upset about thus too, paralympics here are held in high regard and Brazil always does really well in the paralympics. The British media are really tearing Brazil to peices. It's making uncomfortable reading and making me pretty .

I am friends with 3 team GB Paralympians in different sports. Whilst they are all really excited to get out there and take part, they are really disappointed with the way things have been so far with regards to the running of things and know that it will only get worse for their games. Its really sad.

I always love the Paralympics...but especially this year as I know someone who is competing and likely to bring back a medal or two!

There's now a crowdfunding page to try and at least make up for some of the ticket deficits

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-the-2016-paralympics

I don't want to believe this is true. The 2012 Paralympics was better than the olympics and really left everyone feeling ready to try new sports and give it there best.

It's an absolute disgrace that they may be watered down. While London might not be able to host them maybe GB as a whole could? It just wouldn't have the same atmosphere being spread out.

I also find it pretty disgusting how much the bbc spend on the games but not for the Paralympics. Public money should be spent on the latter before the former.

Dh is friends with one of the athletes who is really upset with how the whole thing has been dealt with so far.

Perhaps the answer is to separate the Paralympics from the "main" games and award them to a separate city?

I like the idea of the crowdfunder but I am not sure how we can know that is legit - I am not sure what proof crowdfunder ask for.

My cousin is competing she's trained so hard for this. I'm really looking forward to see it.I was surprised that neither of her parents and their partners or siblings are going so understand why ticket sales are low.

It makes me so cross. Yet again disabled people are being treated like second class citizens.

Brazil should never have been awarded the games.

MrsHS, the problem with that is that 2 lots of facilities would have to be built in 2 places. It would cost more to do it like that.

I'm not sure either but surely there will be Ts & Cs with the website that cover legal issues? The guy that's set it up runs a big physiotherapist/health company so it seams a legitimate cause for them to support!

twitter.com/adamhillscomedy/status/766903092566757376

What a shambles. Disgraceful.

It's about time that both sets of games were amalgamated.
Disabled athletes aren't poor relations, or second class sportsmen, they are athletes. They work hard, train, put as much into their sport as everyone else. In this day and age, segregation is outdated. Inclusion is everything!

I don't think this is Brazil's fault. They've done a fabulous job in very tough economic climes and in an atmosphere where a lot of the population felt that the games were being foisted on them in place of improving opportunity for their own people.

Is it not the Paralympic Committee that is unable to pay the travel grants rather than Brazil? Surely the host country itself isn't expected to pay for everyone else's travel??

I'm not overly surprised that ticket sales are low and feel this shouldn't have taken the committee by surprise. For many and varied reasons, the Paralympics are always going to struggle to be as popular, well understood and valued by the majority of people. Of course they are more important than the Olympics to people with disabilities and as important as the Olympics to knowledgeable fans. But to the average person, they are not as enticing. I don't know what all of those reasons are and I don't know how many of the reasons are borne out of prejudice and disrespect. But these are my reasons for being less interested (I'm still looking forward to them and think they are great but I'm not obsessed in the same way that I am with the Olympics):

1. They don't start till 7th September. I'm back at work and activities by then and won't have any time to watch.
2. It is confusing for the uninitiated to work out who's the best. It isn't as easy as weight classes in boxing when you are watching at the time (I'm sure it is on paper). That's because there are so few athletes in some categories that similar ones get run or competed in the same heat. For this reason I don't especially love Paralympic athletics.
3. The athletes are not as visible in the intervening years and very few have celebrity status. So I don't know who they are and I like to know who I'm watching.
4. My favourite sports are gymnastics (all 3 types), pole vault and high jump. These are not in the Paralympics.

It's taken a long time for Olympic fever to take hold in Brazil. It may ignite again for the Paralympics. I really hope they are all able to get there and have their opportunity.

I don't think holding them every 2 years would work because we already have the Winter Olympics (and presumably Winter Paralympics?) in the intervening 2 years.
I don't think holding them before would be any better than after because, instead of being seen as an afterthought, they'd be seen as a warm up act.
Holding them at the same time would be a good idea in theory but the scale of the event would be so so difficult logistically. Another problem is that then you'd get people saying that the transplant games should be part of it, then the youth Olympics then maybe someone would try and invent a trans Olympics and before you knew it it would be a year long competition (I'd love that but I don't imagine it's practical! )

GirlWithAPearlNecklace I agree 100%.

Many forget that it's not Brazil hosting the Olympics. It's just the city of Rio. The London Olympics ran over its $15 billion budget. London is mostly where Britain's wealth is. Not the case for Rio. Most wealth is in São Paulo whose annual GDP is similar to London, around $900 billion which is, for perspective, greater the combined annual GPD of Portugal and Ireland. For Rio though the annual GPD is lower at around $150 billion. So $15 billion will make a much bigger dent and is the reason why other areas of Brazil need to step in and help.

Interesting article about all the issues here:

uk.businessinsider.com/why-the-olympics-and-paralympics-are-separate-events-2016-8

It is a good point that many disabled athletes might be against merging due to: a)being proud of their achievements as paralympians and not wanting that diluted and b) their sport being axed.

I've never even heard of the long jumper featured which is really sad - I wish he was getting his chance in Rio.

Maybe if the BBC had it on the tele alongside the rest people would see just how great and exciting parasport is. Instead it's shoved off on to one of the Channel 4s. That pisses me off too!

Channel 4 have covered it for years, back when no one was particularly interested, they have made it popular. They also, and I believe this is important, employ presenters with disabilities.

There's a lot of disgust on this thread.

So how many of you bought tickets for the paralympics then?

(silence)

Though so.