BY NADYA STANI
SYDNEY — Gwen and Joan have spent the day at the Paralympics being inspired by the athletes. "They're just terrific", said Joan. Mitchell, who brought his son with him from Orange in western NSW, said he takes the Paralympics "seriously".
Other spectators at Olympic Park echo these sentiments. Ask any of them, the volunteers or the people working in the coffee shops and you'll hear adjectives such as "awesome" to describe the athletes and comments such as, "We should be supporting them more" in an obvious comparison with the support the Olympics received. Art student Glenn Capps-Jenner said, "There's so much hype for the able-bodied Olympics, everybody just gets over the Olympics and it [the Paralympics] gets pushed aside."
Anyone who was in Sydney during the Olympics will remember how overwhelming the media hype was. Medal wins were the top stories; posters proclaiming our sports heroes' achievements were at every newsstand. Ian Thorpe was "liquid gold". The Australian women's hockey team, the "Hockiroos" were "gladiators". Commentators, Olympic athletes and journalists universally concluded that those games were "unrepeatable".
Paralympians are breaking world records and hauling in the medals, yet it's not been easy getting the media to see beyond disabilities. Despite the sale of more than 1 million tickets to game events (exceeding original expectations of 650,000) and sell-out crowds at the opening and closing ceremonies, the Paralympics still only make the television sports reports, in addition to ABC TV's three hours of coverage per day.
Jane West, communications manager for the Sydney Paralympics Organising Committee (SPOC), said the Paralympics are overshadowed by the Olympics and that media interest was low as a result. Capps-Jenner, who went to events in both the Olympics and Paralympics, said, "I went to the tennis at the Olympics, and there were many more photographers, many more film crews, but when I was at the [Paralympics] tennis yesterday, there were two photographers."
Even Australia's national sporting obsession, swimming, failed to generate much media attention. According to Capps-Jenner: "There were not as many photographers. There was one little section at the far end, where as the swimmers came out, where they'd be interviewed by the ABC."
"It's about perceptions", said Dr Hossam el din Moustapha, director of the Egyptian delegation, pointing out the media's role in maintaining and perpetuating a perception of inequality.
So why are the Paralympics so under-reported? Although SPOC officials and spokespeople pointed out that the Paralympics are a separate set of events, they revealed that they have "struggled to convince the media" to become interested during the last four years. "You can't compare it to the Olympics ... This is the 11th Olympiad, whereas the Olympics were the 27th", explained West.
The ABC's coverage had been limited to highlights, but was extended to live coverage over the last weekend of the games due to public demand.
West says that in the four years preceding the Paralympics, research indicated the level of public awareness of the Paralympics was 3%. The research highlighted an attitudinal prejudice that "real sport" did not involve athletes with disabilities.
Invariably, these attitudes were reinforced by the media. "Channels 10, nine and seven weren't interested [in the Paralympics] at all", said Simon Thomas, senior manager for television with SPOC. "They took the view that they wouldn't get a commercial return."
Over the last four years, much grassroots work was conducted, focusing on young people. Students became pen pals of athletes, followed their progress and promoted sports that involved people with disabilities. "It helped build a momentum for the games", according to West.
It's paid off. Vicki Ignatius from Sydney said her two daughters have an abiding respect for Paralympic athletes. "My kids are having their awareness raised at school and they're here. We've seen the basketball and have been at athletics all day. It's been enjoyable."
It's testimony to the importance of public education about social issues. In this case, public opinion seems to have driven media coverage, both at home and internationally.
Thomas says that despite international "media reluctance" things are shifting. Some countries have quadrupled their coverage. "Spain, Mexico and Japan have increased their daily coverage of the games", he pointed out. "The European Broadcasting Union are just about to increase their coverage because interest is running three to four times the level of expected demand."
Is this a sign of things to come? Maybe many people's narrow concepts of courage and struggle, beauty and perfection, are being redefined by the Paralympian athletes, some of whom have been disabled as a result of war and conflict.