Paralympics should receive equal recognition as the Olympics

Playing basketball in a wheelchair, swimming with prosthetic legs, running with impaired vision and shooting with one arm are  just some of the many feats that Paralympians pull off in the Paralympics, an international sporting event that resembles the Olympics, but for those with disabilities.

Having to compete in the same sports that Olympians do, Paralympians often have to give double, even triple the amount of effort to practice and compete in their event that Olympians do. Although not nearly as popular as the Olympics, the Paralympics deserves more recognition.

The Paralympics is often thought of, at best, as an event lacking the difficulty equivalent to that of the Olympics, and at worst, as a worldwide extravaganza to make disabled athletes feel included.

Even though some Paralympians lack the key physical traits of a stereotypical athlete, they possess the skills to not only compete alongside the Olympians, but also to outmatch them.

For instance, visually impaired Algerian Paralympian Abdellatif Baka was one of four athletes who beat gold-medal winning times recorded at the Rio Olympics. Baka’s time in the 1,500 meter course was 1.7 seconds faster than U.S.A. gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz’s, proving that Paralympians should not be disrespected for their disadvantages.

To add to the unequal treatment between the two events, the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, which took place Sept. 7-18, only received 66 total hours of coverage on NBC-affiliated outlets, whereas over 260 hours of coverage were reserved for the Olympics. The lack of publicity for the Paralympics perpetuates people’s apathy toward the event.  

Though the Paralympics is significantly less popular than the Olympics, TV networks should designate more time broadcasting the Paralympics so that people become more aware of it.

The Olympics are significantly more advertised, compared to the almost nonexistence of commercials or promotions for the Paralympics. Though the Olympics is a more commercially viable event, with many athletes who have millions have fans, TV networks need to put an effort into sponsoring the Paralympics as well. Initially, many of the Olympians would not be famous without the publicity given by broadcasting companies like NBC; in order to equalize the recognition for both events, there should be more equal coverage.

Additionally, social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram played a large role in the publicity of the Olympics. During the Olympics, Snapchat designated several new filters to the event and even included a medal count feature that displayed the number of gold, silver and gold medals earned by the top five countries. Likewise, Instagram featured posts about the Olympics on their “explore” page, allowing users to easily view photos and videos about the results and competitors in various events.

During the Paralympics, however, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook all seemed to be out to lunch. While Facebook feeds were filled with Olympic posts, any posts regarding the Paralympics were nonexistent. Many of my friends, who spent hours watching the Olympics daily, were completely unaware of the Paralympics.

For the numerous hours that these competitors have sacrificed for their sports, overcoming all the hardships they had to confront with their disabilities, the Paralympics deserves more recognition.