An Olympian ideal
As a little p.s., think about the prefix ‘para-’ and the ways it changes the meaning of words it is affixed to another word.
Merriam-webster defines the prefix as “beside; alongside of; beyond; aside from.” It originated from the Greek and meant “next to” or “side by side.” ‘Para’ means something is next to another thing or is related to it, or — and we see this more often in day-to-day English — someone who is in a field in an accessory or assisting capacity, like a paralegal or paramedical worker, paraprofessionals, in short.
The term ‘Paralympics’ originally combined ‘paraplegic,’ which refers to the movement’s origins as a Games for people with spinal injuries, with ‘Olympic,’ but over time, as the event included people with other disabilities, the official meaning changed.
The International Paralympic Committee website says: ‘The word “Paralympic” derives from the Greek preposition “para” (beside or alongside) and the word “Olympic,” Its meaning is that Paralympics are the parallel Games to the Olympics and illustrates how the two movements exist side-by-side.’
The Paralympics now take place just after the IOC’S Summer Olympics (and use the same facilities); the Winter Paralympics follow the same pattern. The organising bodies are separate entities, albeit working closely together.
The IOC has made large strides in inclusion, with, for instance, women having an equal number of events as men do, and the Olympics welcoming, most recently trans athletes. So, perhaps, it is not unrealistic to imagine a time when the two are not separate events, just one Olympics with events for disabled athletes happening at the same time as those for the non-disabled.