Paralympics

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Guide's Stumble Costs Visually Impaired Runner a Medal

Spain's Elena Congost isn't the only Paralympian upset over a disqualification

(Newser) - A visually impaired marathoner is "devastated" after losing out on a bronze medal on the final day of the Paralympics with an instinctive move feet from the finish line. Elena Congost, 36, of Spain, who has a degenerative hereditary eye disease, was competing Sunday in the T12 event for...

Trans Paralympian Responds to JK Rowling's 'Cheat' Claim

Author 'doesn't know anything about me,' says Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo

(Newser) - Valentina Petrillo's run at the Paralympic Games is over, but she hopes "a transformation for transgender people" has only just begun. The 51-year-old sprinter, who transitioned from male to female in 2019, spoke out about the "transphobia" she's encountered, including from JK Rowling, in a Monday...

World's 2nd-Tallest Man Has No Bed at Paralympics

Iran's Morteza Mehrzadselakjani is dominant force in sitting volleyball team

(Newser) - Morteza Mehrzadselakjani is a standout star at the Paralympics and he's not hard to spot in a crowd—at 8-foot-1, the Iranian sitting volleyball player is the second-tallest man in the world and the tallest Paralympian ever. Even while sitting, the 36-year-old measures more than six feet with his...

Paralympics' 17-Year-Old 'Shooting Star' Hits Bull's-Eye

India's Sheetal Devi is only female armless archer in Paris competition

(Newser) - The Paris Paralympics are underway , and India can already claim a new "shooting star": 17-year-old Sheetal Devi, reported by the AP to be the youngest athlete in the women's para archery event. Devi has a condition called phocomelia , which causes the upper or lower limbs to be shortened...

'I Never Thought That My Life Would Rise From the Ashes'

Paralympian Tracy Otto was left paralyzed and lost an eye when an ex attacked her

(Newser) - One of the American Paralympians competing in Paris on Saturday has a grim backstory she wants the world to hear. Tracy Otto is a 28-year-old archer who was paralyzed from the chest down during a brutal attack by an ex-boyfriend in 2019, reports the BBC . Otto also lost her left...

'Most Spectacular Paralympic Games Ever' Kick Off in Paris
'Cutthroat' Competition
Returns to Paris
THE RUNDOWN
Aug 28, 2024 6:52 AM CDT

'Cutthroat' Competition Returns to Paris

At 11-day Paralympics, 4K-plus athletes with disabilities will vie for medals in nearly 2 dozen sports

(Newser) - On the tail of the Summer Olympics , Paris welcomes another major athletic competition on Wednesday: the Paralympics, where 4,000-plus athletes with different levels of physical, visual, and intellectual impairments will vie for medals in nearly two dozen sports, per the AP . More than 2 million tickets have been sold,...

Meet the Paralympics' First Transgender Athlete

Italian runner Valentina Petrillo, 50, will compete in Paris, as will many other highlighted athletes

(Newser) - More than 4,000 athletes from around the world will compete in 22 sports during the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympics in Paris. Read on for some of the highlighted athletes, per the AP .
  • Valentina Petrillo: The Italian Paralympian will become the first transgender athlete to compete in the Games. In
...

A Year After Shark Took Her Leg, She's in Paralympics

Swimmer Ali Truwit was snorkeling days after graduating Yale when shark attacked her

(Newser) - The first step for swimmer Ali Truwit was overcoming her fear of the one place she'd always felt safe—the water. Having just graduated Yale, she and a friend were snorkeling off Turks and Caicos on May 24, 2023, when a shark charged and bit Truwit's lower left...

France Readies a Plan B for Olympic Ceremony

Amid heightened security concerns, opening of Paris Games may be moved

(Newser) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics planned on the River Seine could be shifted instead to the country's national stadium if the security threat is deemed too high. France is on a high security alert ahead of the Paris Olympics and...

Paris' Olympic Medals Feature a Little Something Special

Yep, that's an actual piece of the Eiffel Tower going home with victorious athletes

(Newser) - An Olympic medal with an inlaid piece of the Eiffel Tower. How's that for a monumental prize? A hexagonal, polished chunk of iron taken from the iconic landmark is being embedded in each gold, silver, and bronze medal that will be hung around athletes' necks at the July 26-Aug....

US Paralympic Swimming Champion Allegedly Sexually Abused Teammate

Lawsuit filed against Robert Griswold, 25

(Newser) - Robert Griswold, a 25-year-old US Paralympic champion swimmer, is accused of grooming a younger teammate with intellectual and developmental disabilities starting last year, then sexually abusing him at the Tokyo Games last summer. A lawsuit filed against Griswold, who has cerebral palsy, also accuses him of continuing the abuse at...

Ukrainian Athletes Make It to Paralympics: 'It's a Miracle'

As war rages on back home, Paralympians converge on Beijing, with Russian athletes banned

(Newser) - The Winter Paralympics open Friday in Beijing, with the Russian athletes sent home and the Ukrainian team escaping a war zone to get to China. "It's a miracle that we have made it to the Paralympics," Ukrainian delegation head Valerii Sushkevych said, per the AP . Russia's...

Paralympics Does U-Turn on Russia, Belarus Athletes

They're now banned from Beijing Games

(Newser) - The 2022 Winter Paralympic Games kick off in Beijing Friday—and after an abrupt reversal from the International Paralympic Committee, athletes from Russia and Belarus will not be taking part. In a statement , IPC President Andrew Parsons said an "overwhelming number" of national committees had contacted the organization, with...

Shot Putter Loses Gold Because He Was 3 Minutes Late

Malaysian athlete's fate causes controversy at Paralympics

(Newser) - Controversy at the Paralympics Games: Malaysian shot putter Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli appeared to have won gold in the shot put in the F20 class. But after the victory on Tuesday, he was disqualified because he had shown up three minutes late for the competition. International Paralympic Committee rep Craig Spence...

2 Evacuees Reach Tokyo to Compete in Paralympics

International effort gets athletes safely out of Kabul, to Paris, then to the Paralympic Village

(Newser) - An international, multi-organization effort has delivered two Kabul evacuees to Tokyo, by way of Paris, in time to compete in the 2020 Paralympics. Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli have safely arrived in Paralympic Village, CNN reports. The Afghanistan Paralympic Committee had said they wouldn't be able to go to...

2020 Paralympics Open in Empty Stadium

A volunteer carried Afghanistan's flag in Tokyo

(Newser) - The Paralympics began Tuesday in the same empty National Stadium—during the same pandemic—as the opening and closing ceremonies of the recently completed Tokyo Olympics. Japanese Emperor Naruhito got it all started again, this time under the theme “We Have Wings.” Among the few on hand were...

Stands Will Be Empty for Tokyo Paralympics

Rising coronavirus infections cause Japan to lengthen its state of emergency

(Newser) - As they did with the just-completed 2020 Summer Olympics, fans will have to sit out the Paralympic Games, organizers announced Monday in Tokyo. The coronavirus situation is worsening in Japan, where the lambda variant has arrived and the government has extended its state of emergency until Sept. 12; the Games...

2 Controversies, Same Theme: Female Athletes' Bottoms


2 Controversies,
Same Theme:
Female Athletes'
Bottoms
in case you missed it
Jul 24, 2021 1:20 PM CDT

2 Controversies, Same Theme: Female Athletes' Bottoms

One is told her briefs are too small, while a team is scolded for wearing bigger shorts

(Newser) - Two different athletic controversies were making headlines Tuesday, but both revolved around the same theme—the clothes women wear during competition. In one case, an athlete was told by a judge that her briefs were too revealing. In the other, a handball team was scolded because they ditched bikini bottoms...

Deaf-Blind US Swimmer Makes 'Gut-Wrenching' Decision to Withdraw

Becca Meyers is not being allowed to bring assistant to Paralympic Games

(Newser) - An American swimmer who brought three golds and a silver home from Rio de Janiero in 2016 says she is heartbroken to be pulling out of the Tokyo Paralympic Games—but US Olympic authorities have left her no choice. Becca Meyers, who is deaf and blind, has been told she...

Ruling Finds Prostheses Make Runner Unfairly Tall

Blake Leeper sees an effort to keep disabled athletes out of Olympics

(Newser) - Blake Leeper has been running in top events, including the Paralympics, with the help of prostheses for five years. He was working toward making the next US Olympic team, to compete against able-bodied runners. But Leeper, 31, hit a major obstacle Monday, when the top sports court in the world...

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