Three years to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games
Event will bring together 4,350 athletes from more than 150 countries to compete for medals in 22 sports
Sprinter Yohansson Nascimento participates in the event celebrating three years to the Paralympic Games in Rio (Rio 2016/Alex Ferro)
The countdown to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games reaches the three-years-to-go mark this Saturday, 7 September (also Brazil’s National Day of celebrating independence), and the prospect of a memorable edition enhances the festive atmosphere around the date. With a record 4,350 athletes competing for medals in 22 sports, the first Paralympic Games in South America will be memorable.
“The commitment to bring transformation through sport is at the core of the Rio 2016 project. For the Paralympics, this means changing perceptions towards people with a disability and improving accessibility standards. As the Organising Committee, we aim to set new standards and provide a positive example for Brazil to follow,” said Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the President of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee.
Over the past year preparations for the Games advanced in many aspects. The Rio 2016 Paralympic Integration functional area was incorporated into the Sports Department, and Agberto Guimarães became the Executive Director of Sports and Paralympic Integration, ensuring a seat for the Paralympic Movement in the Organinsing Committee’s Executive Board, and strengthening the integration with the planning of sports venues and competitions for the Games.
Rio 2016 conducted a complete technical evaluation of the competition venues and 60 pre-Games training camps to put together recommendations ensuring the best accessibility conditions possible. Around 75 new hotels are being built in the city and all of them will have at least five per cent of the rooms totally accessible.
The Organising Committee will also develop a programme to help promoting Paralympic sports in South America with the advice and guidance of the International Paralympic Committee’s Agitos Foundation.
In the city there are already 1,800 students with disability being taught sports by over 40 specially trained coaches at the Municipal government’s community sports centres, like the Mato Alto village where the Friday event took place.
The City government has also renewed the commitment to support the Rio Paralympic Team, which is formed by 20 athletes and four guides in four sports: athletics, paracanoe, swimming and judo.
Paralympic champion Yohansson Nascimento celebrates the milestone with young Cariocas
This Friday, the milestone of three years to the Games was celebrated in an event with Brazilian sprinter Yohansson Nascimento and more than 100 children with and without disabilities, in Vila Manoel José Gomes Tubino, in Mato Alto, Jacarepaguá neighbourhood, in Rio de Janeiro. Current Paralympic and world champion in the 200m T46 and world record holder of the event in the T45 class, the athlete entered the track and competed in a race with the children, a thrilling activity for both the champion and the aspiring athletes.
“We all have difficulties, irrespective of having disabilities or not. What will determine your path is the way you deal with difficulties. Just believe in your dream and dedicate yourself to what you do. In my case, any sacrifice is worth in order to represent Brazil”, the sprinter said. He was born without both hands.
Based on the values of determination, inspiration, courage and equality, the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will be held from September 7 to 18. With the addition of paratriathlon and paracanoe from 2016, the Paralympic Games programme has grown to 22 sports. More than 70 broadcasters are expected to show the Games to a worldwide audience. Around 5,500 journalists and 1.8 million spectators are expected to follow the event that also involves 25,000 volunteers.
