WE ALL GO TO ELLEN BACK
Keane fed up with people treating athletes with a disability as an afterthought
ELLEN KEANE is fed up that the Paralympics is seen as an afterthought.
The headline on an article reporting on the Olympics going ahead compelled the Irish swimmer to complain on Twitter on Wednesday.
Now the Rio veteran is delivering a compelling plea for a culture change.
“The Olympics doesn’t happen on it’s own, it’s followed by the Paralympics,” said Keane.
“But the more that the media say ‘The Olympics, The Olympics, The Olympics’ the Paralympics is an afterthought, and it’s not.
“The people who tune in, the numbers are the same if not better, and the stadiums still get filled. So why do the media love to exclude the Paralympics from their headlines?
“The more they do that, the more they take away that it is a performance sport – a performance sport that just so happens to be for people with a disability. It doesn’t take away the fact that we wait four years to compete, that we train day in, day out, as Olympians do.
“It doesn’t take away the fact that there are still Paralympians in Ireland who don’t know if they are going to Tokyo or not because they haven’t had a chance to compete and qualify just like the Olympians.”
Keane accepts she is unlikely to be going anywhere until it’s time to depart for Tokyo.
“Every cycle there’s loads of training and loads of competition for three years,” the 25-year-old said.
“And the final year is all about competing, travelling and getting those miles up, honing your race strategy so that when you get to the Games, you know what you’re doing.
“I’m not going to get that opportunity this time. The next time I get on a plane is going to Tokyo and the next time I compete with athletes with a disability is going to be in Tokyo.
“The more I tell myself that, the more I’m prepared for it.”