18 Of The Biggest Moments From The 2020 Paralympic Games That You Need To See
If you haven't been keeping up with the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, allow me to update you on what you've been missing.
International Paralympic Committee / Via giphy.com
1.This year's games featured the first-ever Refugee Paralympic Team with six athletes representing the 82 million refugees worldwide.
The athletes include three Syrian refugees: Ibrahim Al Hussein competing in Para swimming, Alia Issa competing in the club throw (also the first woman to compete on the team), and Anas Al Khalifa competing in Para canoe.
The team also includes Parfait Hakizimana, a Burundian refugee competing in Para taekwondo, Abbas Karimi, an Afghan refugee competing in Para swimming, and Shahrad Nasajpour, an Iranian refugee competing in discus.
While two of the athletes did compete in 2016 (Ibrahim Al Hussein and Shahrad Nasajpour), they competed as individuals and not on a coordinated team.
2.The Afghan flag was carried with no athletes behind it at the Opening Ceremony. However, due to support from the international community, athletes Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli were able to make it out of Afghanistan and compete in the Games.
3.The youngest athlete, Husnah Kukundakwe, a Ugandan swimmer, made her debut at just 14 years old.
4.On the other end, the oldest athlete, Franc Pinter from Slovenia, competed for the eighth time at the age of 67. He made his international debut at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympic Games.
5.Keula Nidreia Pereira Semedo, a runner from Cape Verde, and her guide, Manuel Antonio Vaz da Veiga, got engaged right after the women's T11 200m heats.
#Paralympics proposal alert 🥺Manuel Antonio Vaz da Veiga, guide to Keula Nidreia Pereira Semedo, popped the question after the women's T11 200m heatsMay the two of them run together for life! ❤️#Tokyo2020 #ParaAthletics
6.British couple Lora and Neil Fachie both won gold medals and beat world records in cycling.
Two #Gold medals.Two World Records.Two #Paralympics legends.@loraturnham and @neilfachie, the ultimate power couple 😍 #Tokyo2020 #ParaCycling @UCI_paracycling @BritishCycling
7.Lora Webster (right), a sitting volleyball player for the US, competed while five months pregnant.
8.Jessica Long, a swimmer on Team USA, won her 27th medal at the Games. The first time she competed was at the age of 12.
9.Malaysian shot putter Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli won a gold medal in shot put but was later disqualified because he was three minutes late to the event.
He was allowed to compete because he had a "logical" reason, being that he (and two other athletes who were also late) either didn't hear the announcement or didn't understand it. But the referee said there actually wasn't a justifiable reason, and the appeal for Zolkefli to receive the medal was rejected.
10.Morteza Mehrzad (center) competed for Iran's sitting volleyball team. He stands at 8'1", making him the tallest Paralympian in history and the second tallest man on Earth.
The tallest man on Earth is Sultan Kösen from Turkey, who is 8'3" tall.
11.Para taekwondo made its debut with Peru's Leonor Espinoza Carranza (left) as its first gold medal winner and Turkey's Meryem Cadvar (right) as the silver medal winner.
12.Morocco's blind football team was the first team from Africa to ever make it to the semifinals.
Let’s talk Morocco! 🇲🇦 ⚽️ Morocco reached the semi-finals of the #BlindFootball competition. This is the first time EVER a team from Africa has reached this stage.Later today they play holders Brazil. #Paralympics #Tokyo2020Haruo Watabe/ @IBSAB1Football
13.Everyone's been breaking records left and right. Pongsakorn Paeyo of Thailand and Zhu Dening of China both broke two world records on the same day in wheelchair racing and long jump events, respectively.
14.Speaking of world records, Vanessa Low of Australia broke three back to back in long jump, and Sumit Antil broke his own world record in javelin throw and set a new record three times.
Talk about a flex. In total, there have been about 20 world records broken throughout the Games.
15.Venezuela had never won a Paralympic gold medal in athletics, but they won two in 15 minutes thanks to Lisbeli Marina Vera Andrade.
16.Yip Pin Xiu, the youngest person in Singapore to enter Parliament, won two gold medals and set a world record in backstroke.
17.Ibrahim Hamadtou, who lost his arms at the age of 10 in a train accident, competed for Egypt in Para table tennis. He said that as a kid in his village, you could only play soccer or table tennis and he played both, choosing the latter as a challenge.
18.And lastly, Australia will now be paying both Olympians and Paralympians the same. Previously, Olympians won up to $20,000 for winning a medal, while Paralympians won nothing because Paralympics Australia didn't have the funding.
Catch the Closing Ceremony for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games this Sunday, Sept. 5 on NBCSN.
International Paralympic Committee / Via giphy.com
