If you enjoyed the thrills of the Beijing Winter Olympics Games and have been missing the excitement of watching the skiing and snowboarding on your screen since the conclusion of the Beijing Games a fortnight ago, don’t worry.
Starting tomorrow evening, the 2022 Winter Paralympics will bring together over 400 athletes with physical mental and sensorial disabilities from around the world to compete in a wide array of winter sporting events such as nordic skiing, wheelchair curling and para ice hockey.
On 29 July 1948, during the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games, the first competition for wheelchair athletes took place marking the start of the modern Paralympics. They involved 16 injured servicemen and women who took part in archery.
28 years later, the first Winter Paralympics were held in 1976 at Örnsköldsvik,
Since then the Games have grown in size and scale. More than just a sporting event, the Winter Paralympics have also had a transformational impact on the way many people see disability. Just like its summer equivalent, the Winter Paralympics have continued to challenge prejudices and misconceptions about disability as well as improving approaches to social inclusion for host and participating countries alike.
Australia will take a team of nine athletes to the Beijing Games to compete in alpine skiing and snowboarding, including six alpine skiers, two sighted guides and one snowboarder,
The wintery action from this year’s Paralympic Winter Games will be unmissable.
There has been an increase in media coverage of the Paralympics in recent years and for the very first time, the 2022 Paralympics will be shown live across free to air television as well as on a dedicated app streaming all live events and replays. You don’t need to miss a moment’s action.
For more information and ways in which you can cheer on our team, https://www.paralympic.org.au/beijing2022/
