Sir Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee, called the United States “slower to react” to Paralympic support than nations well beyond Canada and Britain, citing Brazil, Iran and France. “I find it strange in the 21st century,” he said. “We would expect of the U.S. to be one of the leading nations when it comes to this sort of principle.”
See Allan Schwarz coverage of the Paralympics. He writes:
When he rolls to the starting line for the 1,500-meter wheelchair race at the Paralympics, the Olympics for disabled athletes that begin Saturday in Beijing, Tony Iniguez will wear his Team USA uniform with pride. He will compete for the United States’s Olympic program. He is also suing it for discrimination.Iniguez is one of many Paralympians who criticize the United States Olympic Committee for providing less direct financial assistance and other benefits at lower levels to Paralympic athletes than to Olympians in comparable sports. The committee awards smaller quarterly training stipends and medal bonuses to Paralympic athletes. Benefits like free health insurance, which help athletes devote more hours to training, are available to a smaller percentage of Paralympians.
The New York Times reports of the support differential between a Paralympic athlete and a similar Olympian:
For example, in 2007, members of the United States Paralympic track and field team were given either $1,000 or $2,000 in stipends to help defray the cost of training; similar Olympic hopefuls received $10,000 to $15,000. Slots for athletes to receive room and board for full-time training at centers in Colorado Springs and Chula Vista, Calif., were also more open to Olympic athletes than Paralympic athletes; wheelchair athletes had no live-in program at all.
The complete article is here.
For coverage see Universal Sports.
http://www.xable.com/sports/paralympic/beijing2008
Posted by rollingrains at September 7, 2008 01:41 AM