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Paralympics making great stridesBut disabled athletes urge more recognition, financial support needed
(CNNfyi) -- She emerged victorious in a little more than four minutes, but Marla Runyan didn't finish first. The legally blind runner placed third, and that finish in the 1,500-meter run in July earned her a spot on the U.S. Olympic track and field team.
Athletes with disabilities say her finish was a breakthrough in helping people realize that physical challenges don't necessarily limit athletes. As the Paralympics prepare to end Sunday in Sydney, Australia, Runyan's qualifying run has come to symbolize what many athletes and organizers want the Paralympics to be: a world-class athletic event in which competitors just happen to have disabilities. "The biggest challenge is the whole credibility and legitimacy issue," said Eli Wolff, 23, a consultant to several disabled and able-bodied sports organizations. '15 years behind women's sports'Wolff, who suffered a stroke at 2 that left him without motor control on the left side of his body, is a Paralympic veteran. He played on the U.S. soccer team at the 1996 Games. But he is better known for his work studying disabled athletics. He has advised the International Paralympic Committee, U.S. Olympic Committee, Women Sports Foundation and U.S. Soccer Federation. Wolff said there has been remarkable progress in the Paralympic movement. But he said there's plenty of room for improvement. "The reality is that the disabled sports movement is 15 years behind women's sports," he said. "It has a lot of potential to really become the elite form of athletics for people with physical disabilities." Outreach program of educationThe movement needs reorganization, program development for disabled athletes and outreach in schools. "The disabled sports world is so fragmented," Wolff said. "And there's very little educational outreach trying to inform people, especially the mainstream sports world." Paralympians want people to view them as world-class athletes, said Kim Kelly, program director for the U.S. Cerebral Palsy Athletic Association. "All our athletes are very, very competitive," Kelly said. "They're taking it very seriously, but they just don't get the same level of media exposure." Special Olympics sets good exampleWolff said the Paralympics could learn from the Special Olympics in which people with mental disabilities compete. The Special Olympics successfully developed a trademark philosophy, media and public recognition and a feeder system for producing a steady supply of athletes. "The Special Olympics focused on a way to develop a grassroots system -- a structure of regional, national and international competitions," he said. "They also have a good way of putting athletes of various abilities together." Neither is the case, Wolff said, with the Paralympics. Tremendous growth since 1948This year's Paralympics, which started October 18, features 4,000 athletes from 125 nations -- more nations than attended the 1972 Munich Olympics. The Paralympics began with a small 1948 competition run by a British hospital on the day the Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies took place in London. Many associate the Paralympics with paraplegics -- which means without use of their legs. But Paralympics means "with" or "parallel to the Olympics." Some Paralympic athletes, according to Wolff, believe that this equality should translate into more equal media coverage and financial support. "Some athletes are complacent, and some realize that they should be treated as legitimate athletes," Wolff said. "And some are raging. But the reality is … it is just going to take a little time." What was once a forum for recreational athletes is now a competition for top-notch athletes with various disabilities from around the world. In 1988, Paralympians competed for the first time in the same venues as Olympic athletes. National anthems were played for the first time in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992, and the intense commercialization of the 1996 Games brought the Paralympics into the international spotlight as never before. "Every Games, there's been something different," said Trischa Zorn, a one-time Paralympic teammate of Runyan's. "The biggest thing I've seen is … the improvement of disabled sports to become a more elite competition. People are starting to understand and be aware of what the Paralympic Games are." RELATED STORIES: Paralympic ticket sales break one million barrier RELATED SITES: Paralympics.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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