What you need to know about the 2020 Paralympics
From historic firsts to local Connecticut athletes debuting
This summer Tokyo, Japan, will become the first city to host the Paralympics more than once, after previously hosting the Games in 1964. However, that’s not where the historic firsts stop for the 2020 Games.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic still in full surge, requiring the same level of health and safety restrictions as took place during the Olympics (spectators are still prohibited), the 2020 Paralympics, which run August 24 to September 5, are expected to break viewing records while creating a more inclusive Summer Games to athletes with disabilities than ever before.
This summer’s Paralympics will feature 539 events across 22 sports including the debut of badminton and taekwondo.
After a record 4.1 billion cumulative audience members watched the broadcast of 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, NBC increased its broadcast hours from 70 to 1,200 ahead of the 2020
Games. Over 1,000 of those hours will be broadcast live from 19 different sports.
For the first time in the history of the Paralympics, 2020 United States Paralympians will be the paid the same amount as their Olympic counterparts for medaling during the Games. The Tokyo Games will be the first Summer Paralympics to initiate the change after the decision was passed by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee in 2018.
During previous Paralympics, Parlympians earned $7,500 for winning a gold medal, $5,250 for silver and $3,750 for bronze, according to the Huffington Post. With the new change, Paralympians will see their earnings increase by as much as 400% and be equivalent to what Olympians earn, receiving $37,500 for a gold medal, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze.
Another new and moreinclusive addition to the Paralympics this summer, includes specific indentations on the sides of each
Olympic medal to help visually impaired athletes distinguish between the different medals by touch. One indentation will signify a gold medal, two the silver and three the bronze. Additionally, each medal’s face will say “Tokyo 2020” in Braille letters.
Team USA will be comprised of 240 athletes, including 129 returning Paralympians and six guides for visually impaired athletes. In Rio, the U.S. saw its best Paralympic performance since 1996, winning 40 gold medals, 44 silver and 31 bronze. The country will look to defend its Paralympic Championship title in women’s and men’s wheelchair basketball and in women’s sitting volleyball.
Among those competing for the U.S. include a select handful of athletes with ties to Connecticut. Here is breakdown of their schedule along with the other sports in the 2020 Paralympics:
Opening Ceremony: Aug. 24 at 7 a.m. // Closing ceremony: Sept. 5 at 7 a.m.
Archery: Aug. 27-31, Sept. 2-4
Track and Field: Aug. 27–Sept. 5
Badminton: Sept. 1-5 The U.S. will not compete in the sport’s Paralympic debut this summer.
Boccia: Aug. 28—Sept. 4
Canoe Sprint: Sept. 2-4 Team USA will have two athletes competing in canoe sprint after the sport made its Paralympic debut during the 2016 Rio Games.
Cycling Road: Aug. 31—Sept. 3
Cycling Track: Aug. 25-28
Equestrian: Aug. 26-30
Soccer (5-a-side): Aug. 29-31, Sept. 2, Sept. 4
Goalball: Aug. 25—Sept. 3
Judo: Aug. 27-29
Powerlifting: Aug. 2630
Rowing: Aug. 27-29 After Rio, the Paralympic committee doubled the distance of para rowing from 1,000 to 2,000 meters. Tokyo will be the first time the 2,000-meter race will be competed in the sport. Connecticut will be represented by 2015 Glastonbury High School alumna Karen Petrik, making her Paralympic debut, and 2016 Paralympian Laura Goodkind, who graduated in 2004 from the Forman School.
Shooting: Aug. 30—Sept. 5
Sitting Volleyball: Aug. 27—Sept. 5
Swimming: Aug. 25—Sept. 3
Fairfield Prep 2019 graduate Matthew Torres will make his Paralympic debut for Team USA in Tokyo, while 2020 Fairfield University graduate Colleen Young will make her third appearance at the Paralympics. Young won her first Paralympic medal in 2016, winning the bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke.
Table Tennis: Aug. 25—Sept. 3
Taekwondo: Sept. 2-4 Para Taekwondo will make its Paralympic debut this summer and become the Paralympics’ first fullcontact Para sport. 2020 Sacred Heart University graduate Brianna Salinaro will become the first female athlete to compete in the sport for the U.S. and the first athlete to compete in para Taekwondo with cerebral palsy on the world stage.
Triathlon: Aug. 28-29 1999 UConn graduate and Brookfield High School alumna Amy Dixon will make her Paralympic debut in the sport after its addition to the Games in 2016.
Wheelchair Basketball: Aug. 25—Sept. 5
Wheelchair Fencing:
Aug. 25-29
Wheelchair Rugby:
Aug. 25 -29
Wheelchair Tennis:
Aug. 27—September 4