Today’s theme: PyeongChang 2018 Paralympics

The Paralympic Games is a major international multi-sport event involving athletes with a range of disabilities. The PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games takes place from March 9th to March 18th, featuring athletes from competing in six sports for 80 Gold medals. What is the origin of the word “Paralympic”? When did it all begin? We look at the history, as well as the present competition, speaking to athletes and coaches from the scene.

The Conversationalist

with

Jon Kreamelmeyer

- Former American cross-country skiing coach who was the head coach of United States from 1998 until 2006, during which time the United States won 11 Paralympics medal in cross-country skiing.

- During the Winter Paralympics in Sochi, he was inducted into the Paralympic Hall of Fame.

“Should we, in your experience, be treating the Paralympics as its own special and unique event with noticeable differences from the Olympics, or is it more important that we pay less attention to the unique nature of it and try, instead, to blur the lines between them?

There have been some reports that in some countries, it has been rather tricky to attract attention and interest in the Paralympics, with reasons ranging from the commercialization of the healthy body image to a lack of expansive tv coverage. Is this the case for the US or any other countries you’ve been associated with? What do you think can be done, if anything, to raise interest in these games?”

&

Joany Badenhorst

- para snowboarder and co-captain of Australian Paralympic Winter team for PyeongChang 2018

“From an early age you took part in various youth paralympics and sport events. But the story of how you got into snowboarding is intriguing. You were trying on a high heeled prosthetic leg to wear on your graduating formal, jumping and running, and head coach of the Australian para snowboard team Pete Higgins was watching you on the other room?

Children with disability don’t see as much representation of them on media or it might be hard for them to find a role model. Do you hope that they might learn something from watching the Paralympics games? Or do you have any message for them?”

Media Monster

Derren Brown: The Push

Next week: Yoga