#ParAthletics

[auslanderkawszwajcarii]

ParAthletics 2023

[atthequillsmercy]

Lenni Reviews: "Run on Your New Legs" Vol. 5, by Wataru Midori

(Image Source) School is back in session and Kikuzato can’t wait to get back to running and testing his new prosthesis. As he prepares for another race, Kikuzato wonders what his motivations are for running and has hopes of reconciling with his old friend from the soccer team, Take. I love the progress Kikuzato is making; both with his training and as a character. His parents are supportive, his…

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

'I can dedicate myself to sport because of the Athlete Grant,' says Brazilian paralympic medalist Lara Lima

Para Powerlifting athlete talked to Brasil de Fato after winning a bronze medal in Paris

The Paris 2024 Paralympics ended with significant results for Brazil. Among the world’s top five medalist countries, Brazil said goodbye to the games, confirming that it is a powerhouse and breaking records.

One of these medals was even more special. On Wednesday (4), Lara Lima, from the state of Minas Gerais, won bronze in para powerlifting. It was Brazil’s 50th medal in the competition. By the end of the Games, the country had reached the podium 89 times, the largest number in history.

The parathlete talked to Brasil de Fato’s Bem Viver TV show. In the interview, she spoke about the importance of valuing Paralympic sports in the results, but pointed out that there is still a long way to go to overcome prejudice and lack of information.

“Ableism emerges from a lack of knowledge. Many people don’t know that the Paralympics exists, although nowadays, this has changed a lot thanks to the visibility we are gradually gaining. But we are still in the shadows compared to the Olympic Games. How will people know if no one is talking about it?” she asks.

Lara Lima also stressed the importance of incentives and public investment in parathletes’ journey to podiums. “The Athlete Grant is my income and I can say I only work as an athlete. I can keep my life totally focused on sports thanks to the program.”

Continue reading.

[enbyfallenfromthedeadstars]

Paralympics and parathletes deserve the same energy, enthusiasm and attention than the regular Olympics. Don't forget them.

On the other hand, loving how the world now sees us as weird artsy kids and call this the "french / parisian culture". Paris, city of Love and Conceptual Dances.

[positiveaboutdisability]

Lucas Henrique Santana Rodrigues is an amazing, 22 year old, Paralympic swimmer from Presidente Prudente, a city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

Lucas was born with spina bifida myelomeningocele. Myelomeningocele is a congenital condition which occurs when the spine and the spinal cord don't form properly. Lucas' spinal cord lesion is on a very low level of his back. This helped to prevent any medical complications. His lower body is seriously affected though. He never had any function or feeling in his lower limbs. Also, his legs lie permanently fixed in a bent position. This deformity is caused by a hip dislocation and by a lack of function in the hip-muscles which control the flexion of his legs.

Lucas discovered his love for swimming at a very young age. It didn't take long for him to decide to join the para-swimming team of the Presidente Prudente swimming club. After a while, Lucas then started to attend 'able-bodied' swimming contests, booking promising results.

By now, Lucas gathered an impressive amount of 44 gold, 19 silver and 13 bronze medals! He also also holds the current Brazilian record for the 200 meters Freestyle. Unfortunately, due to the recent crisis, he still hasn't played all of his qualifying games for the upcoming Paralympic Games in Tokyo. His chances are looking very good though, so let's hope we can cheer him on at the Paralympics later this year!

If you’d like, you can check out Lucas' Instagram page by clicking right here!

[life-globe-blog]

Para athlete Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveira rests during a training session at the shoulder of the Imigrantes Highway in Diadema, Brazil Credit: Buda Mendes/Getty Images

[dxolympic]

Let the picture speak #para-athlete #para-athletics #paralympics #parathlete #parathletics #cardiffhalfmarathon (at Cardiff Bay Barrage) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsIvujkF1KR/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1mzdpu56j90ao

[auslanderkawszwajcarii]

Weltklasse am See 2023 teil 2

[trackandfieldimage]

Blake Leeper, wins his 400m semi final heat and gets a new Para World Record!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 44.38sec . 2019 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. . . . . . . Trackandfieldimage.com . . . . . . #blakeleeper #patrickleeper #usatf #worldrecord #jeffcohenphoto #parathlete #athlete #trackandfield #athletics #inspo @leepster @usatf @paraathletics (at Des Moines, Iowa) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0aKmKlgx_7/?igshid=apk8wl5nzapf

[abrooklynskystreet]

#cycling #cyclinglife #cyclingwhiledisabled #montrealstreetart #paracycling #paraathletics #parathlete #cuban #RogerBatchelorPhotography.com #sport @sportscenter @nikonusa @nike #youcandoit https://www.instagram.com/p/B45tIyepF4G/?igshid=1uuc3aca6yv3j

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

'Media in Brazil have yet to understand the power of the Paralympics,' says Brazilian authority

The department is part of the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship and supports the Ministry of Sports

On the eve of the Paralympic Games in Paris, one expectation is whether Brazil will follow, cheer, and be moved by the athletes' participation, just as it was less than a month ago when the country took part in the Olympics.

At the last Paralympics in Japan, in 2021, Brazilian parathletes stood on the podium 72 times and won 22 gold medals. This number exceeds the total of medals the country won at the Olympic Games in the same edition and in Paris. 

However, for the National Department for the Rights of People with Disabilities, Ana Paula Feminella, the population's involvement is different. She attributes this imbalance to the Brazilian media, which “have yet to understand the power of the Paralympics," she said in an interview with the Bem Viver TV show on Tuesday (27).

The department is part of the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship and supports the Sports Ministry in developing paralympic athletes through the Living Without Limits program (Programa Viver Sem Limites, in Portuguese).

“I think there is still a very limited understanding, which is due to the ableism we live in, a culture that doesn't recognize people with disabilities as subjects of rights, as people who are also capable of doing great things,” says Feminella.

“We need the media to value [the Paralympics] even more, give more visibility to it,” said the secretary. 

Continue reading.

[theladysilvermoon]

Daniel Wagner Jørgensen (Paralympic medalist) and professional danser Asta Björk in the 2022 Danish Dancing with the Stars.

[n3rdlif343va]

Chasing Gold Zine Promo Ficlet No. 4

The fourth ficlet in my promos for my piece in the @yoichasinggoldzine! (read on Ao3: Ready )

This is an AU where Yuuri and Victor are retired Olympic athletes, who now coach Paralympic athletes. You can follow the series on Ao3 here

Ficlet 1, Ficlet 2, Ficlet 3 on Tumblr

Pre-orders are now OPEN but the bundles are going fast! Please head to the blog to place your orders!!

The sun was warm on his face as Minami stood on the deck. Behind him, somewhere inside the training facility, his mom and Yuuri were discussing the last-minute travel arrangements. He had tried to be a part of the conversation, but with every box checked on their to-do list, reality became more tangible. Everything he had been working toward, the first chance to achieve the longest-lived dream of his life, was only days away.

Taking a deep breath, Minami closed his eyes, concentrating on the sun heating his skin and the breeze flirting with the strands of his hair. The energy within him vibrated, sizzling like a perpetual lightning strike. From the moment that he had dipped into the cool lake for the first time at five years old, defying the odds by learning to swim without his prosthetic limbs, his dream had started to form. His first glimpse of Yuuri, breaking through the water and storming toward his first victory over Victor, had given him an idol. He began to run, ignoring the kids who made fun of him for his awkward steps as he learned to find his own rhythm. Meeting Yuuri had added fuel to his determined fire and the day Minami had received the bike from him had ignited the hope to go with it.

There had been times though when his resolve was shaken. The whole world existed to tell him no and sometimes Minami felt that his screams of defiance fell on deaf ears. People wanted to doubt him and the power of that doubt, the strength of those negative opinions, always attempted to poke holes in Minami’s confidence. Eyes still closed, chest heaving with the memories, Minami let them run through his mind.

Freak, an older boy laughed, kicking Minami’s metal-jointed leg out from underneath him. The ground met Minami’s hip with a sharp strike and he bit back the instinctual yelp at the pain. Narrowing his eyes, Minami stood back up, refusing the hand offered by his friend. Dusting off his pants, Minami reached out to grab the shoulder of his assailant. “Hey,” he said, voice still even despite the tears he could feel threatening to spill from his eyes. “I’m not a freak, but you’re a jerk. Grow up.” Dropping his hand, ten-year-old Minami threw an arm around his friend’s shoulders and walked away from the silenced bully.

Cripple, a kid had called him at twelve-years-old, shoving at Minami’s shoulder as they lined up to run sprints during their required physical education. With a glint in his eye, Minami had leaned down into his stance, reacting at the sound of the whistle. He had greeted his insulter at the finish line, standing with his hands on his hips, watching with a smug smile as the other boy finally crossed the line.

Weak, his first coach had said, shaking his head as he pulled Minami from the water. Minami’s strokes were unbalanced, the power difference between his two legs was too significant, and there was no way he could train to improve what Minami was born without. Setting his jaw, Minami shoved from the dock, straight into the water. As his coach screamed for him to come back, he took those criticisms and burned them into his muscles, pushing himself to be faster and stronger.

Alone. His last coach hadn’t said the word, but her abrupt decision to retire had left it tattooed on Minami’s heart. They had been an effective team, Minami had been in top form and racing toward their shared goal. Coach Odagaki’s decision to leave their partnership was unrelated to Minami, but he couldn’t help feeling the sting of abandonment.

Your games, Yuri Plisetsky had said, the venom and scorn in those words had continued to smolder deep inside of Minami, even months after their charity photoshoot. Before then Minami had found the building rivalry between himself and Yuri intriguing and fun on certain occasions. He enjoyed the bantering over Instagram and the attempts to one-up each other in their training regimens. That moment at the photoshoot had opened Minami’s eyes to Yuri’s real view of their now-shared world. It had made him angry, and it was through pure willpower that he had hidden that anger. Those words, spoken with condescension and arrogance, remained on loop in Minami’s mind, pushing his desire to put the younger athlete squarely in his place below Minami on the podium.  

Swallowing hard, Minami forced himself to bring every memory back. Each of these moments had shaped him and driven him to where he stood. On the days when he felt the weakest, when the positivity that normally drove him to work past the pain failed him, the faces of these people and the lingering feelings they had planted in his heart compelled him to keep going.

There were other voices as well. The soft, calming voice of his mom, who had talked him through every change to his growing body, both the organic parts and the artificial parts. She had always supported his dream, even when she worried about the realities of it. She had protected him and given him space to push himself, never wavering in her everlasting love and support.

The voices of the trainers, who were constantly astounded at Minami’s strength and resistance, and who knew exactly when and how to encourage Minami to rest. They cared for him and kept him safe, never making him feel as if he was weak or different from the other athletes at the facility.  

Then there was Yuuri. Grinning at the thought of his quiet but demanding coach, Minami opened his eyes, looking down over the track that had been the source of many hours of torture.

Together, Yuuri had said. During the phone call that established the new chapter in both of their lives, Yuuri had promised Minami that victory would be theirs as a team. Every day since then, Yuuri had showed him the never-ending proof of his support, through long nights charting training courses and trips to meet with sponsors or make new equipment purchases. Yuuri made Minami feel important. Yuuri never made Minami feel as if Yuuri was giving up anything by being Minami’s coach. The team effort Yuuri had promised him was alive and well in every day of their partnership.

Minami’s brows furrowed remembering the day that Yuuri had held him through tears, the water of the locker room shower soaking both of them as Minami revealed that he had been receiving hate through his Instagram DMs. When the sobbing had passed, and they were wringing their clothes out, Yuuri had quietly reminded him that the voice of others didn’t have to become his own. Haters would always exist, but Yuuri encouraged him not to give into that evil influence. The only thing that could fight hate, even self-hate, was kindness and Minami was striving to put this belief into practice every day.

Clenching his hand around the metal railing, Minami felt his mind begin to settle. This was just another battle, and Minami was an excellent fighter.

Every day he fought. Minami fought through the doubts of others and the creeping fear that he wouldn’t succeed. He gritted his teeth against the pain, and held his tongue whenever someone let their eyes linger too long on the parts that weren’t naturally his. He pushed his body to its limits and pushed his equipment even further. When his body was ready to break, his spirit continued to hold on, dragging him forward to the next second, through one more minute, until those minutes became success.

Now he was standing on the edge of greatness, feeling the excitement and blinding terror settling from their swirling tornado in his chest. Being scared wasn’t an option. This was his dream to achieve, his medal to win, and only the beginning of everything he planned to accomplish. He had gotten here with faith, sweat, and an undying belief that he would make it. He had no intention of failing now.

Standing at the threshold to the sliding door, Yuuri watched his athlete. He could easily recall the nerves and thrilling anticipation of competition on the world’s biggest stage. Unlike himself, Minami was strong, he was made of light and hope, and there was no way Minami could lose. Taking a few steps forward, Yuuri placed a gentle hand on Minami’s shoulder. “Ready to go?” he asked, smiling when Minami’s eyes met his own.

“I’m ready,” Minami answered. After years of learning what it took to become a champion, Minami was ready to show the world that he deserved his place at the top. With a nod, Minami turned to fall in step with Yuuri, determination carrying him forward to the most important race of his career.

Together they loaded the van, ready to fight for Minami’s dream.  

[kurtvrich]

Tumblr Super Hunk perennial Russian Parathlete Ivan…

[positiveaboutdisability]