Paralympic Games

 МБОУ «СОШ № 77» с углубленным изучением английского языка.

        Paralympic Games: sports for the bravest and most courageous

Жунева Дарья

ученица 8 класса «Б»

Руководитель Ю.А. Шаврина

2013 г.

Пермь

Content

Introduction …………………………………………………………………3

1. Paralympic Games: sport for the bravest and most courageous………..5

1. Name and symbols…………………………………………………….5

2. . The history of the games…………………………………………….5

1.3. The role of the Paralympic Games………………………………………8

1.4. Russia and the Paralympics……………………………………………...8

1.5 The results of the survey…………………………………………………11

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………13

Appendix1………………………………………………………………….1

Appendix 2…………………………………………………………………2

Appendix 3 ………………………………………………………………...3

Introduction

The London Olympiad of 2012, especially the Paralympic Games aroused my interest in the topic. So I wanted to learn more about the history of the games, about the Russian paralympians, to find out the attitude of my classmates and adults to this sport and its heroes. This year, being the pre-year of the Paralympiad in Sochi caused a lot of discussion and coverage in mass media. Our country and the whole world follow the news about the process of preparation.

In 2014 Russia will host the winter Olympic and Paralympics games for the first time. These are the great services of Russia’s government but mostly of the Paralympic sportsmen who are successful not only in sport competitions but in the sphere of sport diplomacy. The Games are the culmination of the four year preparation of the sportsmen, the most prestigious world’s event in the sphere of sport, the most popular international public movement.

The aim of my work is to trace through the history of the Paralympic Games in order to
-determine their role in the life of society and disabled people in particular

          -to find out what the attitude of common people to the Paralympics is 
-to  make the young people aware of the importance of disabled people's problems

Objectives:

1. To study the role of sport in modern society
2. To study the history of the Paralympic Games
3. To study biographies of paralympians
4. To study the impact of the Paralympics on the disabled sportsmen and society
5. To make a general survey of Russia’s preparation to the Paralympics
6. To find out the attitude to the disabled people
7. To present the results of a survey among students
8. To analyze the material and make conclusions

Paralympic games are the subject of the work, and the process of preparation to the Games in 2014 is the object of this work.

The actuality of this work lies in the fact that nowadays choosing the strategy for political and economic development our government understands the necessity in some innovative approach, which demands the realization of a human potential, including such components as health and life expectancy. The role of physical training as a factor of perfection of human nature and society is increasing in our contemporary world. Sport has become an integral part of modern development and international sport events give a special status to the participating and hosting countries in international communication. The Paralympic Movement helps us to solve social problems such as physical rehabilitation and social adaptation of persons with disabilities, improve their quality of life by overcoming various psychological and socio-cultural barriers, and increase a sense of social significance of the motivations and intentions to be active. Disabled people, who do sport lead a more active lifestyle, they understand their role and importance for the country, they understand their equality to other people. However, not all disabled people can receive the needed support as not all cities in Russia are well-equipped and there aren’t many coaches and qualified people who can work with people with disabilities.

Moreover, the problems aroused in the work are in tune with the ideas and tendencies of The Cultural Olympiad on the threshold of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi in 2014.  

Comparing to the world leaders Russia has a rather short history of Paralympic sports.^[1] But we try to take an active part and get high results. Due to the attention from the government and mass media, especially after the successful performance in Turin in 2006 and in Vancouver in 2010 Russia’s Paralympic movement comes out on a new level of development. New systems of training in different kinds of sport and ways of rehabilitation are being worked out. New sports centers are being built to train professional sportsmen. These centers are adapted for disabled people of all categories. A great number of people study the international experience of hosting and organizing the games. A great number of sites appear in the Internet and their aim is to unite the paralypians. Russia’s aim is  to organize the games on top level.

It’s a common assumption that motion is the integral factor of rehabilitation. Lately the role of sport in the contemporary system of cultural values has increased greatly in most of the countries. Intergovernmental relations in the sphere of physical culture and sport are an important way to comprehension and strengthening of the relations between the nations.

International Paralympic Committees, societies, clubs contacting by an exchange of sports delegations, coaches and experts and through the participation of athletes and teams in international sports events create a positive climate in inter-state cooperation.  

Sport and physical training, being the aspects of a common national culture as a source of social stability, economic growth, national safety and spiritual health has become a part of the foreign cultural policy. They enrich and enlarge the opportunities and resources of cultural diplomacy, which aim is to support the country’s global reputation on the international scene.

The world’s sport movement has become one of the most powerful and mass international movements. About 200 countries belong to the Olympic and Paralympic sport society. The conservation of the leading role of Russian sportsmen on the international scene is not only the question of prestige for Russia but also a guarantee for the accelerating of the process of Russia’s integration into the World’s system.

And what we need is to involve injured people into sports and make others contribute into the process of recovery. This has always been the aim of the Paralympic Games.  

1.1. Name and symbols

The term "Paralympic Games" became official only in 1988. Earlier the Paralympic Games were called Stock-Mandeville Games and later (till 1984) “Olympic Games for disabled people.”  However, the word ‘paralympic’ was used unofficially in some of the documents.  Gradually, the term received its official use. At first, the name was derived from the term paraplegia (paralysis of the lower extremities) as only people with spinal cord diseases compete in the games.  The present formal explanation for the name is that it derives from the Greek preposition pará ("beside" or "alongside") and thus refers to a competition held in parallel with the "Olympics", demonstrating the equality of people with disabilities to normal people.

As well as the Olympics, Paralympics have their own symbol and motto. The symbol was confirmed in 2003. This is the symbol of motion, created by three ‘agitos’ lines (lat. “agito” – I move) which are situated around the abbreviation “IPC” (International Paralympic Committee). Thus, the symbol emphasizes the role of the committee, which works hard to unite the sportsmen from all over the world. There is also the idea that the sportsmen always amaze and inspire people with their performances, go forward and never give up. The new symbol consists of three colours – red, blue and green as these colours are represented on most of the national flags.

The strength of mind of each sportsman does not know the limits. Every day they overcome new barriers, gain new aims and try to square the circle. In the motto “spirit is in motion” the IPC managed to express the main idea of the Paralympic movement- no matter what the life in the past was we should give each person a chance to unite and fill the world with enthusiasm.

The paralympic values include: brevity, equality, perfection, strife.  

2. The History of the Paralympics

 The development of sports for disabled people has more than a century-old history. The first attempts of including disabled people into sport were taken in 1888, when the first sports club for the deaf was formed in Berlin.

However, only in 1945, the development of treatment of people with spinal cord injuries led to the development of the global sport movement for the disabled, known today as the Paralympic Movement. The founder of the Paralympic movement was an outstanding neurosurgeon Ludwig Guttmann.[wiki] In 1944 he created a special sport course of rehabilitation for the veterans of the Second World War. It was a part of the complex treatment. In 1948 Ludwig Guttmann founded Stoke Mandeville games that were held at the same time as the Olympic Games in the UK. At that time it was an archery competition between 16 paralysed veterans. Gradually, the number of participants increased causing the appearance of a variety of sport activities. The games became an annual event. [rezeptsport.ru]

In 1952 wheelchair sportsmen from Holland wished to take part in the competition. So the games immediately received the international status.  Due to the donations of veterans and pensioners the first stadium for disabled people was built in Stoke-Mandeville.  In 1960 400 participants from 23 countries competed in the IX Stoke Mandeville games which were held in Rome. These were the first official international Paralympic games, which led to the development of the Paralympic movement. Not only veterans but people with various injuries were among the competitors in 8 kinds of sport (athletics, swimming, basketball, table tennis, archery, fencing and so on).  It was the first step of integrating the invalids into the society.

         The second Paralympic Games which took place in Tokyo gathered 390 sportsmen from 22 countries. The games were officially opened and presented the flag, hymn and symbol. After the games most of the Japanese sportsmen found their first jobs.

The third Paralympics brought a greater increase of the number of participants.  The program was broadened and some classification changes were introduced.

 The competitions of the fifth Paralympics were broadcast on television, giving to the society an opportunity to experience the same emotions, to support  and feel proud of the  compatriots. This broadcasting aroused people’s interest towards disabled people, made them sympathize with them. Some even decided to help. These were mostly organizations and local government, voluntary organizations.

The USSR took part only in the VIII Paralympics. The program consisted of 16 kinds of sport.

The number of sportsmen in the IX Paralympics was 3020 people and about 50 % competed in athletics and swimming. The games inspired the authorities to organize games for people suffering from mental deficiency.

The Russian team took its 14th place in the year of 2000.  In 2004 in Greece we had the 11th place. The Paralympics of 2008 brought the record number of participating countries (148- more than 4000 participants). Again the Chinese were the leaders, Russia had the 8th place. But still we compete only in 12 kinds of sport.

Generally the disabled of 6 categories take part in the Paralympics:

1. cerebral palsy,
2.   problems with vision,
3. problems with  hearing,
4. mental deficiency,
5.  spinal cord injuries,
6. other types of disabilities

There was always a great need in some coordinating and supervising body. As a result, the International Stoke Mandeville Federation was founded. It interacted with the International Olympic Committee. People began to realize that sport is not only for healthy people but people with serious injuries could also take part in sport competitions.

 Since then, the Paralympics have been held in the year of the Olympic Games. And since 1988 the Paralympic Games have been organized in the same cities and places as their Olympic counterparts. The first Winter Paralympic Games were held in Sweden in 1976.

          The International Coordinating Committee of World Sports Organizations for the Disabled (ICC) was established in 1982. The ICC was in charge of advocating for the rights of disabled athletes. After the successful cooperation of the ICC and the IOC, which resulted in the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, the ICC determined the need to expand and include representatives from all nations that had disability sports programs. They also deemed that it was necessary to include athletes into the decision making process of the Paralympic governing body. Consequently, this body was reorganized into the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 1989. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is an international non-profit organization and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement, founded in 1989 in  Germany. Its mission is to enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sport excellence and inspire and excite the world. Furthermore, the IPC wanted to promote the Paralympic values and to create sport opportunities for all persons with a disability from beginner to elite level.

The IPC has a democratic constitution and structure and is composed of representatives from 174 National Paralympic Committees (NPC's), four international organizations of sport for the disabled (IOSD's) and five regional organizations.

On the basis of being able to organize the Paralympic Games more efficiently and to give the Paralympic Movement one voice the four international organizations combined under the IOSD founded the International Co-ordination Committee of World Sports Organizations for the Disabled (ICC) in 1982. In the upcoming years, other organizations joined and the need for a democratically guided organization emerged, demanded by the nations participating in the Paralympic Movement. They desired a democratic structure, to improve national and regional representation, which led to the foundation of the IPC as we know it today.

1.3. The role of the Paralympics

          Today the Olympic and Paralympic Games – are not just the main sports forum of the planet but a huge incentive for the development of the country in which they are organized. Games bring long-term positive social and economic changes that allow to set new standards, to popularize the Olympic and Paralympic values. First of all, the preparation and holding of the Games promotes the following changes:

1. modernization and development of modern sports infrastructure as the basis for the development of elite sport and sports in the country;
2. positive changes in the social sphere, related to the promotion of healthy lifestyles, attitudes;
3. increasing of intercultural interactions;
4. development of the volunteer movement;
5. improvement in environmental protection and ecology;
6. transformation of the urban environment: the creation of accessible urban environment, reconstruction and modernization of public areas, improvement of urban infrastructure, the adoption of new standards for the urban environment.

The Olympic and Paralympic Games have a great impact on people. The games are an opportunity to unite people with different backgrounds, make them feel strong and happy, independent and equal.  This is a kind of a language, a new source of communication. They become more integrated into the society. Their achievements make them feel significant and successful. Some of the paralympians join different charity organizations, or make donations and help others to overcome problems and misfortunes. Participation in the Games is a realization of their strife. Cities and countries where the Paralympic Games were held become "barrier-free environment" for people with disabilities. People begin to refer to the disabled as to ordinary citizens. The government strongly supports the disabled: build sports facilities for them and try to eliminate physical, informational and communication barriers.

1.4. Russia and the Paralympics

          Currently the development of sports among the disabled people in Russia is the responsibility of the government. In Russia there are more than 10 million people with disabilities, and not all of them are passive, many are in need of rehabilitation. For more than 15 years we have the Russian Paralympic movement, the Paralympic Committee and the Federation of Physical Culture and Sports for  the disabled Russians. The first priority for the Russian Goskomsport is to solve the problem of equating the status of disabled athletes to the status of the healthy athletes, the Paralympic status to the status of the Olympics. The aim of the state is to create all conditions for every citizen to lead a full life, to participate actively in the social life of the state and, if possible, to enrich and defend our country.

        The sport opportunities for people with disabilities in Perm Krai are developed but not as well as in Moscow or Saratov region. People with musculoskeletal injuries can do different kinds of sports: armsport, cross country skiing, biathlon, boccia, cycling, skiing, darts, athletics, table tennis, taekwondo and etc. People with low vision can use many sections: athletics, swimming, skiing, judo, arm, goalball, sports tourism, chess and checkers. But it is necessary to pay more attention to sport facilities, where persons with disabilities do sports. In Perm Krai competitions and festivals for the disabled are held regularly. But they are based on sponsorship. These events are necessary, they inspire others to do some sports. They show incredible strength of will, which is typical of people with disabilities. They never lose heart, always search for the strength for new achievements.  Unfortunately, we know only one paralympian Taras Kryzanovsky who represented Perm in the Paralympics. But there will be no sportsmen from Perm in Sochi. Our government doesn’t support the disabled in our region.

The most famous paralympians are Alexander Zverev, Olesya Vladykina, Taras Kryzhanovsky. Alexander Zverev is an athlete with low vision. Sport for him is the possibility to live a full life. His first coach Sergey Nazarov can’t see at all.  In London Alexander won a silver medal in the 400 meter race. When he got his reward he expressed his wish to give some money to his first coach who involved him into sports.

Taras Kryzhanovsky is a perm wheel-chair athlete, honored Master of Sports. Taras was born without feet and began doing sports because of the necessity to get water from a pump. Taras put two large bottles of water on a sledge and went home. He helped himself with a stick to make the sledge move. Once his coach Alexander Pridchin noticed him when he tried to bring water home. Now he is believed to be the strongest in the world, a champion of skiracing.

Olesya Vladykina is a Russian athlete and a champion of the Paralympics in 2008. Olesya rested in Thailand when her tour bus crushed. She lost her friend and her left arm. However, she continued training and became a champion in 5 months after the accident. Olesya is an ambassador for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi in 2014.

        Overall, Russia has good chances to be a leading country in Paralympic sports. We have a lot of sportsmen who can present our country in Sochi. The whole country follows the construction of the Olympic installations and establishments. The heads of the ICC and IOC also control the process. We will host the Olympiad in a year. Recently the president visited Sochi in order to control the preparation. Unfortunately, only 40 % of the project is done.  The president said that this last stage is the most important and we should try hard to succeed. The Olympic village is almost ready and after the Games part of this village will be sold and the other part will help to supply people in need with good accommodation. When the Games are over, the government plans that the objects and complexes will be used by Russian sportsmen as a place for training for future sport events. ‘The ice-complex’ is pretty ready. However, it is built on the marshland. The president was not pleased with the construction of the ‘Russian hills’. The vice-president Achmed Bilalov, who was in charge of them, was hired. The price of building is constantly increasing. The initial price was about 1, 5 millions, now it’s about 8 millions. It was planned to finish the building in summer of 2011 but now it is supposed to be summer of 2013. The average temperature in Sochi in winter is 18 degrees above zero and there is no snow. Will it be possible to supply the Games with a needed amount of snow- is a big question. A lot of money is spent on the road building. Some people lost their homes as the territory is needed for the project. A lot of money is being spent but there are practically no results. We hope that everything will be good and there will be no incidents at the games. So, the workers and the government seem not to be responsible and reliable in spite of the fact that these games are extremely important for the country.  

Nevertheless, a program of raising the level of managers’ skills seems to be good. A lot of managers who will be in charge of hosting the games are supposed to study hard. The program includes the perfection of personal, professional and linguistic competences, which are necessary for carrying out the XXII winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. The managers have theoretical and practical courses, they study the history of the games, the strategies, program of creating barrier-free environment and integration of invalids into the society. They study the national and international standards of service, groups of clients and the ways of interaction especially in the Paralympics. The managers study the psychology of effective intercultural communication in the sphere of professional communication. On the practical courses they study and practise the basics of linguistic and intercultural communication, paying attention to the ways of politeness, giving and asking information, the conversation about weather as an integral part of linguistic competence. The certification will be held in the framework of a round table. The ICC helps to organize the games and prepare the staff. But the impressions of the games will greatly depend not only on the way of conducting and hospitality but on the level of preparation and operational readiness

1. 5. The results of the survey

I have studied the history and the role of the Paralympics. The Paralympic movement has a special place in the social policies of the countries.

The Paralympic sport united the committees of different nations and influenced them to discuss the rights and guarantees of the disabled people, the programs and rules of participating and hosting the games, the medical classification of the disabled people, equipment and rules of judging. The Paralympic sport is a good and significant source of developing the intercultural interaction.  But what are the Russia’s achievements in this sport and what is the attitude towards the disabled people in our city? Do we know much about the Paralympic movement?

I have analyzed the results of Russia’s participating in the Paralympics. Despite the fact that Russia didn’t take part in the games from the very beginning it has quite a successful history. Russia is not the leading country in the Paralympic Games, but the number of medals is increasing every year. In the Winter Paralympic Games in Norway the number of medals was 30, but in the Paralympic Games in Canada the number of medals was 38. And the competition in the USA in 2002 were not a success. However, we improved greatly in the following years. The Summer Paralympics are more successful and bring better results. The record year was in 2012. The good news is that still Russia remains in the top ten.

            In 1996 Russia was in 16th place, but in 2012 was in 2nd  place. Yet Russia is progressing and athletes improve their skills. Personally I think we achieve much due to the programs and development of sport in the country.

I have also worked out some questionnaires in order to find out the people’s opinion on the sport for the disabled, the level of the knowledge in the history of the Paralympics and to learn the attitude of people to the people with disabilities in the society.

I have interviewed 30 people, 15 adults and 15 teenagers. Respondents have a different opinion on the question “What is your attitude to the sport for disabled people?”

The results show that 93 % of teenagers approve the participation of athletes with disabilities in the Paralympic Games but 7 % said that they are against the participation of disabled people in the Paralympic Games, because they believe it is a mockery on the body.100% of adults argue that people with disabilities should do sports in order to have some aims to achieve and the strength for recovery, they need to feel equal.

Then I offered these adults and pupils to do the following test on the history of Paralympics. (Appendix 2)

80% of the adult respondents said that Paralympic values are perfection, respect, equality and striving. 35% of teenagers said that Paralympic values are friendship, courage, enthusiasm, perfection and 25% said that Paralympic values are courage, equality, commitment, enthusiasm. 90% of teenagers and adults answered correctly to the 2ndquestion about the participants of the Games. 70 % of adults and only 30% of teenagers know the founder of the Games. The rest found it difficult to answer the question. Half of the adults answered correctly the 4thquestion, and merely 30% of teenagers gave the right answer. The majority considers The USA to be a leading country. 70% of respondents made a mistake in the 5th question. Very few people know the number of sports.   85% of adults answered correctly, though 60% of teenagers made a mistake in the question about the time of the Games. 70% of adults and 60% of teenagers answered wrong to the 7th question. So people do not know the answers to all the questions but they think that Paralympic values are perfection, respect, equality and striving. It is very bad that people do not know general facts about the Paralympic Games, but if media broadcasts the history of Paralympic Games and shows more programs about the disabled people, then people will know more about the Paralympic Games and their heroes.

           Speaking about the attitude towards the disabled people I have the following results. The majority considers the disabled people to be brave people who deserve respect and support.  70% and 30% of the adult and teenager respondents have acquaintances with some disabilities, and 100% and 90 % if needed would easily agree to have warm and friendly relations with such people. 10% of adults and 25% of teenagers (having and not having the disabled as friends) would feel uncomfortable and would hesitate to appear in the company of such people in public. The absolute majority of the respondents face disabled people daily but less than half of them know the heroes of the Paralympics. Overall, the attitude to people with disabilities is different. Nevertheless, there is a common assumption that these people need help and support. But it seems to me that not all of us are ready to give that support because of the psychological barriers. I think we should introduce special courses into school programs in order to make pupils aware of the people with disabilities, their problems and achievements.

Conclusion

 Recently there have been a lot of serious changes in the attitude of the society to disabled people. Adaptive sports in our country have come on a new level. This development is connected with the increasing attention of the government towards these people. The number of mass sport events for the disabled has grown noticeably. The disabled have more opportunities to participate in different sport competitions. To involve people into sports the government has worked out a special program ‘development of physical training and sports in the Russian Federation for 2006-2015.’  A lot of stadiums, swimming-pools, skating rinks and other modern sport centers are built, all of these establishments are equipped and adapted for the people with disabilities. The attendance for the disabled people is free. The number of disabled people involved into sports is growing but not in the perm Krai. New training technologies are worked out and successfully introduced into work. The international connections and interaction of the disabled people has also increased.  A certain amount of the budget is spent on the needs of the paralympians. They receive rewards and money on preparation for the games. People do not know much about the Paralympic Games, but they are sure that games help people with disabilities and it is necessary to develop the Paralympic movement. The Government must build rehabilitation centers and stadiums, so that everyone can get help and take exercise. I think that it is not necessary for all people with disabilities to become world champions and sports stars, but we have to be sure that every disabled child has an opportunity to be engaged in a proper rehabilitation center to get even the slightest progress. The mission of the government is to popularize sport among the disabled and supply them with all the necessary opportunities. The media should cover the Paralympic sport as well as the Olympic. Then people will be more interested in the lives of people with disabilities, help them to overcome social barriers, and the government should take care of the construction of sports facilities for the disabled. It is a great prestige for Russia to host the Games in 2014, much is being done to get prepared. Unfortunately, most people do not believe the complex will serve long.  It’s not a long term project. The money seemed to be wasted. But maybe it is all worth doing if the disabled people get strength to some new achievements after the participation in the games or after the watching. Hopefully, these games which will be held in Russia will inspire more disabled people of the country to devote their lives to sport. The games will help to change the attitude of the society and common people to the disabled, to overcome prejudices and understand that the people need our warm attitude and daily help. Nobody is insured from an accident.

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

 Appendix 3

                                                              adults           teenagers

References:

1 Константин Осипов. Сильные духом. Звезды паралимпийской сборной России. Издательство «Амфора», Москва, 2010

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www.kubsu.ru

www.fondora.ru/upload/files/brochure

www.news.rambler.ru

www.paralymp.ru

www.gazeta.ru

www.rezeptsport.ru/news_2012/news

www.ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/