Although the Olympics may be over but the summer of sport continues with the Paralympics just around the corner.
Tokyo’s hosting duties continues with thousands of Paralympians set to descend on the Japanese capital to compete on the world stage for medals.
While Olympians are represented by the International Olympic Committee, Paralympians have a different governing body; the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
With the Paralympics set to begin in a matter of weeks, here are things you need to know about the events.
Paralympics Start Date?
The Paralympics begin on Tuesday August 24, 2021, with the opening ceremony declaring the official start to the games.
Starting at 8pm Tokyo time, the opening ceremony will be available to watch at 12 noon in Nigeria, this is due to the 8-hour time difference.
All the sporting action will kick off Tuesday August 25, lasting through until Sunday September 5, 2021.
What are the Paralympics?
The precursors to the modern Paralympics were created by Ludwig Guttmann, a German Jewish neurologist who fled to England before the start of World War II. In 1948, he founded the Stoke Mandeville Games, a sporting event for British veterans with spinal cord injuries that coincided with the 1948 London Summer Olympics. By 1952, Dutch veterans joined the event, marking the first international competition. And the Paralympics as we currently know them kicked off in Rome in 1960, six days after the end of the Olympics. Today, the Paralympic Games — which include Summer and Winter iterations — rank as the second-biggest sporting event in the world, and this year’s Games will welcome nearly 4,400 athletes from about 170 nations.
Where will the Paralympics be held?
Since the 1988 Seoul Games, the Olympics and Paralympics have shared a host city and sporting venues. This marks the second time Tokyo will host the Paralympics — following a turn in 1964 — with 539 events across 22 sports.
Nigeria Participation in Paralympics
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Games will be Nigeria’s eighth consecutive appearance after her maiden appearance at Barcelona 1992.
Nigeria had her most successful outing at Rio 2016, finishing as Africa’s best team and 17th overall in the world on the medals table with eight gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.
Nigeria will participate in four events at the Games including Powerlifting, Para-Athletics, Para-Table Tennis, and Para-Rowing.
The following is the list of Games Nigeria hope to participate in Tokyo Paralympics:
| Sport | Men | Women | Total |
| Athletics | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Goalball | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Judo | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Powerlifting | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| Swimming | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Table tennis | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Total | 29 | 19 | 48 |
Who Can Participate in the Paralympics?
Athletes must fall into one of 10 impairment types:
- impaired muscle power (which can result from a condition such as spina bifida or muscular dystrophy),
- impaired passive range of movement,
- limb deficiency (which can result from congenital conditions or amputation),
- leg length difference,
- short stature, hypertonia (an increase in muscle tension caused by damage to the central nervous system),
- ataxia (uncoordinated movement caused by damage to the central nervous system),
- athetosis (continual slow involuntary movements),
- vision impairment
- intellectual impairment.
Players must then go through a process called “athlete evaluation,” during which they are grouped by their levels of impairment to ensure fairness; the International Paralympic Committee compares the process to grouping athletes by age, gender or weight.
Are there any new sports joining the Games this year?
Badminton and taekwondo are making their Paralympics debut, replacing sailing and seven-a-side football (soccer). Ninety athletes from 28 nations will compete in 14 badminton events, while 72 competitors will square off across six taekwondo events.
New Countries Participating for the First Time?
Yep! Bhutan and Guyana are both sending athletes for the first time.
Do all Paralympics sports have Olympic counterparts?
No, there are two that are unique to the Paralympics: boccia and goalball. Originally designed for people with severe cerebral palsy, boccia is similar to boccie and is played by people who use wheelchairs and have an impairment that impacts their motor skills. Goalball, on the other hand, is a team sport for visually impaired athletes that involves trying to throw a ball embedded with bells into the opposing team’s goal. Players are blindfolded so that partially sighted and fully blind players can compete on a level playing field.
If you watch certain sports with visually impaired athletes, you’ll immediately notice that Paralympians are paired with sighted guides (or “pilots” in the case of para-cycling). Since the 2012 Games in London, these guides have also been eligible for medals, because they’re such an integral part of the training. Swimming, meanwhile, requires another unique adaptation for visually impaired athletes: Someone known as a “tapper” uses a long pole to alert the swimmer when they need to turn at the end of the pool! And if you tune in to certain events and notice that the crowd is deadly quiet, don’t assume the spectators are being rude or unsupportive. For sports that require the players to rely on sound, such as goalball and five-a-side football, spectators must remain silent.
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