Jessica Sauer- Disability and Sports Spring 2022

    The Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games recently took place from March 4th to the 13th. Athletes, with all different forms of disabilities, from all across the globe, came together to unite through a common love of sport. Over the course of the ten day event, six winter sports were featured, including alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, snowboarding, and wheelchair curling. Each event was packed with action and passionate athletes that helped to shape that unique sport. One event I was able to watch, and was quite fascinated by, was the women’s cross-country skiing event. If I am being completely honest, I have never really watched the Winter Paralympic Games before, so there was not much that I knew about this particular event. So, I took to the official Paralympic website and did some research. Cross-country skiing made its debut in the 1976 Örnsköldsvik Paralympic Games. It is open to male and female athletes with physical and or visual impairme...

     The Olympic Truce was an agreement established way back in ninth century Ancient Greece. The treaty was signed by three kings, who’s domains were almost always at odds. It was enacted in order to allow for safe and fair participation in the Olympic Games for both athletes and spectators. This concept was recently revived in the modern Games with the goal of safeguarding the interests and practices of athletes and sport as a whole, while also utilizing sport as a way to encourage unity, peace, and healthy competition. The truce, with heavy support from the United Nations, is renewed with each Olympic and Paralympic Game, continually promoting a peaceful and cooperative world through sport. It encourages international friendship and for differences such as race, religion, politics, and tensions to be set aside to simply celebrate an international love of sport and competition.  Within the past few weeks, great conflict has arisen between Russia and Ukraine. Issu...