Paralympics are simply paradisal

By Udoka Gabriella Okafor

While watching the Olympics, I was quite interested in the multitude of events. Seeing the likes of Usain Bolt and other athletes racing the track was very impressive. From their colours to their audacity, they represented their nations proudly. Yet while these athletes are certainly the superstars of their nations, they are, I am afraid, only a dimmed glimmer when compared to the Paralympics.

At first, I shared in the general skepticism about the Paralympics. Uneducated on the matter, I thought it was just another way for society to project their ‘equal yet different’ idea. I mean, why else would Olympics and Paralympics be entirely disjointed events if not to prove this statement?

But after watching a singular Paralympic event, I was as surprised as anyone could ever be. Certainly, they were different. They lacked the gallivanting personalities, the bravado which has made some athletes notorious. Yet they did not lack the confidence. Despite their different disabilities, they were more than ready to show their aptitude.

People with one arms or no arms at all swimming, blind people running, people in wheel chairs playing basketball. The magnificence was a limitless continuum. They were super-humans. Not because of their disabilities, but instead because those very same disabilities did not define their limits. They, and only they, did.

Experiencing the Paralympics truly gave me a better understanding of the term “winning.” Many of the athletes and the audience alike did not care that their teams came first, second, or third. The honor was in beating the odds. It was in participation. All and all, it was found in being able to proudly say, “I crossed that finish line, I did not give up.”

This was my most memorable summer. Spending it in London and going to North Greenwich where the Paralympics was being held cultivated a novel appreciation for the world and the people in it. While I did not have tickets to go to the events, it didn’t matter exactly. I could hear the screams of the audience and the heavy breathing of the athletes. I saw the smiles on the face of those people who where about to enter the field, those who left it, and those who would come again.

To the freshmen and everyone at McMaster, just remember that these athletes were able to beat the odds not because they were super-humans but because they worked as hard as they could. Try to remember that the next time a midterm is around the corner.