First started in 1948, the Paralympics is one of the largest international sports competitions for elite disabled athletes. It encompasses 28 total sports: 22 summer sports and six winter sports. . However, the Paralympics are far less popular than the Olympics and receive less media attention every year.
The Paris 2024 Olympics took the world by storm. This year the Olympics was the thing most people were talking about. However, the Paralympics occur almost two weeks after the Olympics and were also posted in Paris. Despite this, it does not gain nearly as much coverage. In a survey conducted by the Falcon Flyer, it was found that of the 24 participants, 20 watched the Olympics this year, while only three participants watched the Paralympics.
However, similar to the Olympics, social media has led more people to tune into the Paralympics. From Instagram reels to TikToks, social media documentation of the Paralympics by the athletes has helped spread knowledge of the Paralympics. Emily Freda, a Special Educator and a Unified Sports team coach at Briar Woods, stated “I got to watch a little bit of the Paralympics and I was so happy to see more coverage of it this year than I have noticed in years past. It even came up a lot on social media!” Increased coverage and representation does not only help fund the Paralympics it also can be inspirational to other disabled athletes and encourage them to continue their passions.
Although the Paralympics remains undercovered there is some improvement due to the emergence of social media. Hopefully by the time the winter Paralympics come around the event will be just as popular as the Olympics
