PARALYMPIC GAMES: Latin American Athletes Shine Despite Limited Support

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 4 2004 (IPS) - Sports can play a crucial role in helping people with disabilities live up to their fullest potential. At the most recent Paralympic Games, Latin American athletes proved that they are developing that potential to an ever greater extent, despite limited government support.

Mexico and Brazil took home 34 and 33 medals, respectively – including 14 gold medals each – from the games held Sept. 17-28 in Athens.

Although both countries sent much larger delegations and devoted a great deal more funding to the Olympic Games in August, the results were much less impressive, with only 10 medals for Brazil and four for Mexico.

The Mexican National Sports Commission, a governmental body, spent 3.3 million dollars to support the country’s disabled athletes, but spent six times more on its Olympic competitors. Brazil sent over 400 athletes to the conventional Olympic Games, and only 98 to the Paralympics.

This limited support, while still insufficient in the eyes of disabled athletes and activists, was enough to help both countries achieve outstanding performances, finishing in 14th and 15th place in the medal standings, out of a total of 136 countries.

Mexico and Brazil have made remarkable advances in the Paralympics in just a few short years. In 1996, at the Atlanta games, they finished in 31st and 37th place with 13 and four medals respectively.

Other major Latin American countries that place little priority on sports for the disabled have not made the same progress. Argentina, for example, ended up in 61st place this year, with just two silver medals and two bronze.

Even Cuba, which stands out as the only Latin American Olympic "power" in the conventional games, failed to deliver impressive results at the Athens Paralympics, winning only 11 medals and finishing 43rd.

The advances made by some developing countries in this area have been matched by a decline observed in the developed nations.

The world’s wealthiest and most economically powerful countries, the members of the G-7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States), continue to dominate the Paralympics, but their total combined take dropped from 585 medals in Sydney to 478 in Athens – a decrease of 18.3 percent.

Then there are other wealthy countries like Australia, which captured 149 medals as the Paralympics host country in 2000, but took home only 100 this year.

Most of this lost ground was taken over by China, which almost doubled its share of medals in the space of four years, from 73 in Sydney to 141 in Athens.

But as Raniero Bassi told IPS, the developing countries have also made significant gains, and could do even better in the future with more government support.

Bassi, 48, has been a paraplegic since the age of 18. Born in Switzerland, he now lives in Brazil, where he works as a trainer for the country’s wheelchair basketball team.

He believes that sports are of vital importance for the disabled, because they are a way for them "to become citizens who are more fully integrated into society." Bassi has seen numerous cases where involvement in sports has essentially "rescued" people with disabilities, by helping them to attain fuller productive and social lives.

Unfortunately, the general public and the disabled themselves are often not aware of the possibilities that sports can offer.

The publicity given to the Athens Paralympic Games, which were widely covered by Brazilian television for the first time ever, will undoubtedly lead to greater prospects in this field, and this will be reflected in the results at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, Bassi said.

With more investment in this sector, the developing nations could excel in the Paralympics, because they tend to have large numbers of people with disabilities.

"Maybe Iraq will send a big delegation to Beijing," since the war is producing so many disabled people, Bassi quipped.

As for Brazil, according to the 2000 census, there are 24.5 million people with some sort of disability, or roughly 14.5 percent of the total population, now estimated at 178 million.

"We have talent, not technology," noted Bassi. This is why poor countries produce champions in individual events or team sports that do not require expensive equipment.

Swimming, track and field and soccer illustrate this fact. But in the case of basketball, the need for expensive wheelchairs puts the wealthier nations at a clear advantage, because they can provide their athletes with more sophisticated and technically advanced equipment, Bassi explained.

The Mexican government rewarded its medal-winning "para-athletes" with prizes of between 4,470 and 17,700 dollars, depending on the kind of medal they won. But the prize money for "able-bodied" medallists was five to ten times greater. In Brazil, Paralympic champions are encouraged to continue devoting themselves to sports with stipends of around 1,000 dollars a month.

Paralympians cannot expect the same financial support as Olympic athletes "because it’s just not possible, it’s not realistic," admitted Nelson Vargas, director of the National Sports Commission.

Mexican track star Ana Gabriela Guevara, who won the silver medal in the 400-metre dash in Athens, sparked deep indignation by declaring that Paralympic medals are not worth as much because "they’re easier to get."

Some Paralympic athletes responded that Guevara’s "disability" was far more serious than their own.

Luis Martínez, a physical trainer who works with young amateur athletes in Mexico, told IPS that the achievements made in the Paralympics are important and that the level of competition is rising significantly, but it still cannot be compared to the Olympics.

In his opinion, the superior performance of Paralympic athletes in terms of the number of medals won owes to the fact that they do not face the same pressure from the media. They have also been forced to strive harder than conventional athletes, which builds a greater will to succeed, he said.

Argentina’s poor showing is the result of minimal government support, IPS was told by Alberto Nattkemper, president of the Argentine Blind Sports Federation.

Nattkemper and his delegation of athletes had to travel 34 hours to get to Athens, in order to get cheaper airfare. Once they arrived, they had to carry their own equipment to where they were staying and then had to compete almost immediately, without a rest.

In spite of all that, Argentina’s five-member blind soccer team captured the silver medal, losing on penalty shots in the final game against the gold medal winner, Brazil.

China’s performance was outstanding because it provides more funding for disabled athletes than any other country in the world. In Latin America, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico stand out in this respect, noted Nattkemper, who also had high praise for South Africa, a Paralympic leader for many years.

Additional reporting by Marcela Valente in Argentina and Diego Cevallos in Mexico.