TOKYO — Organizers of the Paralympic Games have said that the event is more than a sports competition. They have repeatedly cast it as a way to draw attention to the 15 percent of the global population with impairments.
“This is the only global event that puts people with disabilities at center stage and gives voice to persons with disabilities,” Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympics Committee, said at a news conference a day before the opening ceremony. “Throughout the pandemic, they have been left behind and have been denied a level of services that nondisabled people have had access to.”
Generating attention for the Games, which are opening a little over two weeks after the Olympics closing ceremony, could be a challenge, particularly in Japan, where a persistent wave of coronavirus infections has burdened the hospital system in Tokyo and unnerved the public.
Outside the Olympic Stadium before the ceremony on Tuesday, there were noticeably fewer people than before the opening ceremony of the Olympics, when throngs of people gathered to take selfies along the road around the stadium. On Tuesday, a line of about 10 people pointed their cellphones at the venue. The low turnout may be partly due to the fact that the Paralympic ceremony landed on a weekday, while the opening ceremony of the Olympics took place on a Friday night, and the closing festivities on a Sunday.
Hanako Ohkawa, 34, appreciated the lack of crowds. She brought her two daughters, 4 and 6, to the stadium. They were wearing hats with Olympic and Paralympic mascots on them.
“We didn’t come on the day of the opening ceremony for the Olympics, because we thought there would be too many people,” Ohkawa said. She said she was worried about the spread of the coronavirus in Tokyo, “but since the Olympics have happened, there is not much they can do about it now. They can’t cancel the Paralympics or else that would be quite unfair.”
Takeru Shibata, 27, who works in recruitment, happened to walk by the stadium near the start time. ““I didn’t know that the opening ceremony was today,” he said. “I would watch Paralympic matches if I come across them on TV, but I don’t particularly plan on watching anything.”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/24/sports/paralympic-opening-ceremony/