Los Angeles Paralympics2028 will have the best level ever

Dthe European Forum of ASPC – Association of Sport Performance Centres (Association of High Income Centers), which takes place in that municipality of the district of Santarém, Leila Marques, a former Portuguese paralympic swimmer who is part of the CPI's management, predicted that in 2028, the level of paralympic athletes will reach the highest point ever.

“ It is approaching Los Angeles2028 at a furious speed and there we will have 4,480 athletes from approximately 156 countries in 23 modalities. Considering the investment that is being made, both in infrastructure and in programs, we believe it will certainly be the best games in terms of sports performance of our athletes”, he said.

For the vice president of the CPI, who has the same position in the Portuguese Paralympic Committee (CPP), “the evolution of paralympic sport and performance of athletes has grown with a glance”.

And he reminded the Paralympics of Paris2024, where “ 175 world records and 218 paralympic records were beaten,” because “the competition is increasingly balanced.”.

“ For example, in athletics, 32 medals were decided for less than a tenth of a second or 10 centimeters,” he pointed out, stressing that “in the vast majority of events”, the brands that were worth gold in Athens2004 or Beijing2008 “would not even reach a final of the Paris Games”.

Leila Marques added that “paralympic sport is undoubtedly as competitive as Olympic sport today”, attributing evolution to investments made “in high-performance centers and training programs for athletes with disabilities”.

Moreover, it specified the cases of China and Brazil, where the investment made was rewarded with a notorious growth in the number of medals obtained: “It’s a clear lesson that when there is sustained investment in infrastructure and high-income programs, the results will undoubtedly appear.”.

But the CPI and CPP ‘vice’ warned that investments cannot target “only those athletes who can work more easily”.

“There is a great concern on the part of the CPI to continue to create conditions for athletes with great difficulties, with greater incapacity, so that they have the opportunity to train, compete and, above all, can have the translation of the benefit of sport as a fundamental tool for the improvement of our societies,” he said.

The need to involve more and more people with disabilities in sport was also highlighted in Rio Maior by the director of Special Projects of the Paralympic Committee of Brazil, Mariana Vieira de Mello.

Citing data from the United Nations, the Brazilian leader said that 16% of the world’s population “has some kind of disability”, which is equivalent to “1.3 billion people”.

“ If our sports organizations are not prepared, we leave behind a considerable part of humanity. Deficiency is neither marginal nor an exception, it is part of human diversity, it is individuals with different characteristics, experiences, ambitions and needs ", he recalled.

Therefore, it is necessary to invest in the adapted sport, because “it has a unique capacity to empower, break barriers and integrate people with disabilities into society”.

“The impact goes far beyond sport,” said Mariana Vieira de Mello.

At the level of high income, Portugal is, like Europe, “in the right way”, Leila Marques advanced.

“ We have already found solutions and recognition for our paralympic athletes. In Portugal, there was a great investment in sport, which includes, beyond the infrastructure, such as the High Income Centers, their rehabilitation and improvement, the preparation and research programmes, and everything in ‘mirror’: five projects for the Olympic side and five for the paralympic side”, he concluded.