Calls for improvement at grass roots level to address Paralympic athletes gender disparity

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The 2024 Paris Paralympics has been touted as the most gender- diverse games in history, but the disparity is still evident. The international paralympic committee says a lack of depth is stopping the event from being 50/50, with pathways and accessibility at a grass roots level needing improvement.

Transcript

00:00Australian team co-captain Angie Ballard has put the finishing touches on her seventh Paralympic

00:08Games preparation.

00:11This time she's competing in what the International Paralympic Committee has spruced as the most

00:16gender-inclusive Games in history.

00:18Look, I think the IPC is definitely trying and I think sometimes it's a resource problem.

00:25It's definitely, there's a limit to how much can be done.

00:29Athletes are classified into 10 different groups based on their impairments, but not

00:33every classification gets to compete in every event.

00:37The medal events and athlete quotas change with each Paralympics.

00:41Some are added to the program and some are taken away in a process described as the biggest

00:46jigsaw puzzle.

00:47When we decide which medal events are included in the program and the quotas, we look at

00:52each event and we look at the depth of talent in each class.

00:56The Paris Games has doubled the number of female athlete quotas compared to when Angie

01:01debuted at the Sydney Paralympics, but women still make up just 42% of athlete slots and

01:07medal events.

01:09It's a complex challenge that starts at the grassroots level, building up the resources

01:13and the talent pool that can eventually push for 50% representation at the elite level.

01:18For more people to be included we actually have to allow for more people to compete at

01:22a Paralympic Games, and we have to respect the fact that elite sport is about having

01:29time to progress and depth of field so that there's competition.

01:33Is there the depth of talent available to us to ensure that the Games is this wonderful

01:37product that showcases the best of Paralympic sport, and at the moment the crude answer

01:41to that is no.

01:42While Angie might not be competing in the Brisbane 2032 Games, she's hopeful it's an

01:47opportunity to create serious change.

01:50Realistically the abled bodied pathway is not working for a lot of people within para

01:55sport so we need to think outside the box and we need to adjust our system a little

02:00bit to make sure it's including those people whether they become Paralympians or not.

02:03Earlier this year the Australian Government doubled the existing funding allocated to

02:08para sport, investing $55 million over the next two years.

02:13The Australian Institute of Sport has also launched Project Para, which aims to double

02:17the number of para coaches in Australian sport and support current Paralympic coaches

02:22in the lead up to the Brisbane 2032 Games.

02:25It's a step in the right direction for para athletes at all levels.

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