Ireland Paralympics team have podium ambitions as Paris prepares to light up again

Over ten days, in the same stunning venues like La Défense Arena and the Palace of Versailles, the world will get a chance to admire and marvel at the achievements of the world’s Paralympians.

Ireland are sending a team of 35 athletes, which is not quite the biggest; that was in London in 2012.

 The disappearance of cerebral palsy football – in which Ireland are quite strong – from the program means the team size has decreased.

Still, with so many athletes and a delegation of 84 people in all, this has been a hectic time for Neasa Russell, the Ireland team’s chef de mission.

It is Russell’s second time in the role, although as she admits herself, Tokyo was a far different experience.

"I think we have seen that from the Olympics just gone and how all the athletes had talked about what a different experience Paris was. Tokyo was just about getting athletes there and making sure everyone stayed healthy."

Two of the most familiar faces won’t be there. Jason Smyth won six Paralympic gold medals in a career where he was called the ‘Usain Bolt’ of Para athletics and he will now be part of RTÉ’s coverage for the event, as will Michael McKillop, winner of four gold medals on the track.

Both of them were in Paris this week as the Irish team began to arrive, in their roles as mentors to the next generation, passing tips and advice for many of the athletes on how to handle the crowds and atmosphere that await them in Paris.

"Almost 50% of our team are first-time Paralympians,’ Russell points out. ‘And a lot more of them will have only been in Tokyo, which was such a different experience, with no crowds or anything. So, having the likes of Jason and Michael here this week, giving out bits of advice is invaluable."

Russell feels that the London Games were the turning point for the Paralympics. The organizers created a sense of parity and equity with the Olympics, and it is believed that Paris will do something similar.

She says that the team hasn’t set a concrete target of medals, but judging on recent championship results, Ireland will be hoping for between six to eight – akin to Team Ireland at the Olympics.

But of course, the Paralympics is about so much more than high performance and medals.

Even though the 4,400 athletes who will compete in Paris over the coming couple of weeks will be looking to reach the podium, the Games are also about inclusion, and inspiring the next generation of people with disabilities.

"The profile and platform that the Games now have, they should inspire more people with disabilities into sport. That is what we want to be the legacy here, we are talking about past, current and future generations of Paralympians, and we want people with disabilities to know there is a way into sport for them.

"We know that people with disabilities are under-represented in sport, and indeed education and the workplace.

"So, effectively, what we’re actually trying to do is inspire the community themselves.

"And those who are inspired by the performances that they see in Paris, that there will be somewhere they can come to and we can signpost them to opportunities locally, and that is what we are trying to do, that there are more places at a local level where they can get involved in sport," says Russell, a Galway native who spent a number of years working with Rowing England before coming home to be Sports Director with Paralympics Ireland.

According to research from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), around 20% of the world’s population have a disability, be it a physical, visual or intellectual impairment. And the wider part of these Games, and the Paralympic movement, is inclusion.

"By people watching the Games and people getting involved and more people seeing what can be achieved – that raises the public awareness and we are demonstrating through sport that we can adapt things so that people with disabilities can thrive. That’s the ultimate aspiration; that is the endgame of the Games."

Then there are the stories of the athletes themselves and the awareness they are raising. Para-archer Kerri Leonard will be one of the first Irish athletes in action next Thursday. It will be her second Paralympics and the Meath native has used her profile to highlight the need for farm safety after acquiring her disability from an agricultural accident when she was a child.

Or there is Para-cyclist Richael Timothy, who was an under-age soccer international on the same Ireland side as Katie McCabe and also played Gaelic football for Roscommon before those twin careers were cut short by an acquired brain injury; she is keen to show that life can go on after such an injury.

It will be in cycling where most of Ireland’s medal hopes may lie, with Katie George Dunleavy back, likely to resume her medal-winning partnership with Eve McCrystal.

But there will be plenty of wonder and awe over the ten days. Para-triathlon will be worth paying attention to, with the McCombe sisters from Derry competing, along with their guides, who cross the finishing line after them.

It will be one of those moments when you will be amazed by what the human spirit can achieve – and there will be many of those over the ten days of the Paralympic Games. After Paris made the Olympics such a success, it is likely they will do the same for the Paralympics.

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.