Paris 2024. Has the image of disability and sport changed thanks to the Paralympic Games?

Due to the Olympic year, the Tours Journalism Conference is this year with the theme “journalism is sport”. And what about para sports? Two high-level athletes, regulars at the Paralympic Games, discuss the evolution of views on this sporting practice, in a workshop called “Parasport: sport rediscovered?”.

“In a few weeks, France will host the Summer Olympics and Paralympics. A hundred years ago this happened“, recalls Jérôme Bouvier, President of Journalism and Citizenship, in his presentation to the 17th International Conference of Journalists in Tours.

“34,000 journalists are expected to cover the event, whose audience is estimated at 4 billion viewers. 34,000, to measure the enthusiasm, is within a few units the number of journalists who have press cards in France.”

And this is the first time France will host the Paralympic Summer Games, from August 28 to September 8, 2024! Almost 4,400 athletes from 182 nations meet there. 3,000 accredited journalists, expected 3.4 million spectators, does this mean that disabled sport has already won the battle, reversed all prejudices and gained the visibility it deserves?

In a workshop dedicated to disabled sports during the Assises du Journalisme, Wednesday 27 March, Julien Soyer and Ryadh Sallem attempt to answer this question. One is a former disabled table tennis player, silver medalist for the Paralympic team in Sydney and Atlanta, today a sports journalist for Ouest-France. The other excelled in swimming, wheelchair basketball and now wheelchair rugby, participating in 6 editions of the Paralympic Games!

For Ryadh Sallem, “it was with Barcelona 92 ​​that the situation changed. This is the first time that the Paralympic Games have taken place in the same city, in the same infrastructure, and at the same time, 15 days apart, as the Olympic Games. Until then there was no connection, they were two parallel worlds. This really set the pace for the Paralympic Games. With Beijing 2008 each candidate city was required to organize both events, accessibility was really taken into consideration. Before it was DIY…”

It was the London 2012 Games that were a revolution, from a strictly political and media point of view. We saw incredible scenes, the stadiums were packed, I went to watch paracycling on the track and couldn’t find a seat! It was an incredible atmosphere, it was overwhelming. I did not think that one day we would achieve such enthusiasm for the Paralympics.

Julien Soyer, former para-table tennis player, silver medalist for the Paralympic team in Sydney and Atlanta

He also notes that the Winter Games have often served as a laboratory for the Summer Games, with, for example, the first live broadcast of the Paralympic Games by France TV in Sochi in 2014.

What will it be in 2024? According to Guillaume Papin, journalist at France TV, records should be broken:

“The 22 disciplines during the Paralympic Games will for the first time all be filmed and all broadcast. Paris 2024 will thus mark significant progress in recognition, visibility and equal treatment. The same journalists will also comment on JO and JP, again, this is the first time. There will be 24 consultants, for the same number of journalists.“

As an old regular at the Paralympic Games, Ryadh Sallem can only rejoice at this development:

I was one of those who fought to bring FranceTélé to Atlanta in 1996, after which we launched a petition for media coverage of para sports. You cannot imagine the happiness of seeing your battles succeed in your lifetime!

Ryadh Sallem, para-athlete, wheelchair rugby

Julien Soyer shows the same optimism:

“The 2024 Paralympic Games will involve more than 4,000 volunteers, entire teams from the SNCF, the gendarmerie, all the major bodies of the nation that will be trained to welcome people with disabilities. Of course, the outlook will change, it can only develop in the right direction, with a downplaying of the disability situation.”

“After the Paralympic Games, of course, the accessibility of buildings, in terms of mobility, resumes Ryadh Sallem. But above all, it is the availability of mind! People no longer see disability in the same way, that is the biggest legacy. If the outlook changes, we save lives, when someone manages to improve their life through sport, it’s an opening, we make the future accessible!”