It is, of course, unseemly to be talking about filthy lucre when it comes to the Olympics or Paralympics, but still, it’s interesting to note the disparity in some cases between the cash prizes given to medallists from both Games by the same nations.
These are the top 10 highest prizes for gold medallists at the Paralympics: 1 Singapore €343,000, 2 Israel €247,000, 3 Malaysia €208,000, 4 Hong Kong €174,000, 5 Spain €95,000, 6 France €80,000, 7 Brazil €42,000, 8 South Korea €40,000, 9 United States €34,000, 10 Germany €20,000.
So, when swimmer Yip Pin Xiu won gold for Singapore in the 100m backstroke S2 final, she banked herself a handsome €343,000. But she would have been given twice that figure if she’d achieved the feat at the Olympics, Singapore and Hong Kong being the worst offenders, according to CNBC’s research, when it comes to that gap. The rest of the nations in the top 10 all give equal prize money.
“For me personally, I don’t think it’s really so much about the money,” said Yip a few years back, “it’s more of the message that is sent out that people with disabilities are not equal.”
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Patient partner
Naturally enough, we hear a lot about the sacrifices made by Paralympians through their journeys to competing at the very highest level of their sports, but sometimes we don’t hear half enough about what their loved ones have to put up with along the way.
Take, for example, the other half of British cyclist Blaine Hunt, who won silver in the men’s C4-5 1,000m time trial on Friday. “My wife sleeps with three bikes in the bedroom. At least one in the front room. There’s about five in the shed,” he said.
And there’s his granny. “My nan died before I came to Paris. They’re postponing the funeral so I can be there. It’s things like that you miss out on.” That’s two very patient women in Hunt’s life.
Expecting to win
Britain’s Jodie Grinham had a very productive day on Thursday in the ranking round of archery’s Individual Compound Open competition, the 31-year-old shooting a personal best to finish fourth out of the 28 competitors. That put her straight through to the round of eight where she will meet Poland’s Kseniya Markitantova on Saturday.
Considering she had spent the previous Saturday and Sunday in hospital, that was some feat. Grinham is seven months pregnant and had some concerns about her baby’s condition, so checked in to a maternity hospital. All was well, thankfully, so she’ll be ready to take on Markitantova.
She’s hoping, though, that there won’t be an arrival during her competition. “My team have joked a few times that my waters could just break on the podium,” she told The Athletic. “That would be quite something.” Wouldn’t it just.
Blocking the view
You might imagine that no group of people on earth would be more aware of wheelchair accessibility issues this weather than those attending the Paralympics, right? Well, when disability campaigner Anna Landre arrived at a viewing area in Paris where the opening ceremony was being shown on a big screen, her attempt to access the wheelchair viewing platform failed – because it was, she tweeted, “entirely taken up by non-wheelchair users”. “The irony,” she concluded, “is amusing.” You couldn’t make it up.
Quote of the Day
“For the entirety of my life, I’ve been stared at because I’ve been different. Kids have stared at me, parents have stared at me, and it’s just because I didn’t have any legs. And now we’re changing that perspective ... now you’re staring at me because I’m a two-time Paralympic gold medallist.” – Trevon Jenifer, who is now aiming for his third gold with the United States’ wheelchair basketball team.
Number: 8
The number of athletes on the Refugee Paralympic Team in Paris – their countries of origin are Iran (three), Afghanistan (two), Syria, Cameroon and Colombia.
