Not Long to Go Until the Paris Paralympics 2024

Soon the city of Paris will be playing host to the Paralympic Games. This event is the biggest showcase on Earth of the amazing capabilities, spirit and flair of disabled athletes. Lifestyle & Mobility have seen first-hand just how inspiring Paralympic competitors are. We have recently started working with Paralympic wheelchair racer Richard Chiassaro, who is travelling to Paris as part of Team GB in the hope of bringing home medals. Richard hasn’t been with the company long, but already we have got a sense of what he will be bringing to our Paralympians in terms of refusing to accept limitations.

The total number of athletes who will be representing Team GB at the Paralympic Games is around 230 across a staggering range of sports. ParalympicsGB athletes will be competing in categories as diverse as Wheelchair Fencing, Para Powerlifting, and Boccia.

Want to Learn More About Paralympic Events?

Wheelchair fencing and para powerlifting may be fairly easy to imagine, but what about boccia? Boccia is one of just two Paralympic disciplines that doesn’t have an Olympic counterpart. An upcoming blog will look at this and the other Paralympic exclusive sport – Goalball – in detail. For the moment, it is best described as somewhat similar to petanque.

As with most sporting events at the Paralympic Games, boccia uses some of the latest in mobility technology. Active manual wheelchairs are the main mobility option used in this, and many other disciplines. For some sports, such as wheelchair basketball, years of research and development have taken active wheelchairs to new levels. With an active manual wheelchair built for lightness, manoeuvrability, and speed, incredible things can be achieved.

Mobility Technology, Mental Determination, and More

Wheelchair basketball is a good starting point for considering the cutting edge mobility technology used in the Paralympic Games (again, expect a more detailed piece about technology at the games in the near future)

Being the foundational sport of the Paralympics, it has a long histories of developing active wheelchair technology for athletes. Throughout this upcoming showcase of sporting excellence and the human spirit, we can expect to see the liberating effects of technology in sport. Let’s go!