The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games officially ended 15 days ago; while waiting for the next event of 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milano-Cortina, we would like to share our opinion on their deepest meaning and on the life lesson they represent.
Who knows if the masterminds behind Paralympic Games had imagined how their idea would turn into a big worldwide event. German Jewish neurologist Ludwig Guttman and, at a later time, his Italian fellow neurologist Antonio Maglio were the first ones to plant this seed. We are in Great Britain, immediately after WWII, in a centre for disabled people, hosting many soldiers wounded during combat, with very severe spinal injuries. Guttman did not accept to see so many young people with the perspective of life of a recluse; so, he understood that sports could be an extraordinary activity for rehabilitation. Antonio Maglio got the intuition for Paralympics, and, in 1960, he proposed to play them after the Olympic Games of Rome. Paralympic Games was not their name yet and they were still an unofficial activity; however, the path was already taken.
Nowadays, it is a largely experienced event; everybody cheers for it and, above all, it bears extraordinary messages. Sport is sport and no one cares if you run with some prosthetic limbs or with a wheelchair; there are still rules to follow and performances to improve – all the rest does not matter. As they said during an old Samsung advertisement, “Sport does not care who you are – what matters is that you are there to give the best of yourself and to win”. This year, Italian para-athletes won many competitions and they gave us extraordinary emotions. Several incredible prodigies have emerged throughout the years, such as Alex Zanardi; they have showed us that the limit is not inside the disability but inside the eyes of judging people, still thinking about an old and barren model of perfection.
During interviews, these athletes deal with efforts, commitment, joys, disappointments, affections, and future projects, being determined not to ask for favours, but instead to run away from the idea of being victims. We really hope that this lesson could positively affect everyday lives, as the only and undeniable example of cultural and social dimension. The great and passionate participation in the Paralympics in Paris has taken this path and it pays back the several years of efforts of the organising team. The credit goes to them and to RAI TV as well, as they dedicated a lot of time and space to this sport event. We stayed close to our monitors for two weeks, being overwhelmed by the immense enthusiasm and living every award ceremony with deep emotion and the sense of fraternity that Italian National Anthem raises in us every time. It is as if we won those medals altogether – and that is how it was.
