Sports
Los Angeles 2028 will be acid test of Britain’s Paralympics movement after best medal haul
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Paris 2024 “set a new benchmark” for Paralympic sport but “there is still a long way to go” for the movement, according to a top official.
As the Games wrapped up, International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said: “We need Los Angeles 2028 to pick up the baton and when we talk about legacy in the US, it needs to be legacy for the whole of the US, and the world.”
The Brazilian was referencing the bigger picture of inclusivity, perception shift and accessibility, outside the pure sporting spectacle of 4,463 athletes competing from 170 countries.
Penny Briscoe, Great Britain’s chef de mission, also emphasised that in spite of the team winning 49 gold medals, eight more than in Tokyo three years ago, there “will be a need to be more prepared, more heavily resourced” if performances are “to beat the USA in their own back yard” in four years.
GB finished second in the medal table behind China (94 golds), with the United States third on 36 golds. Funded to the tune of almost £70 million, GB finished second for the third consecutive Paralympics.
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Briscoe added: “To finish these Games with 49 gold medals and 124 overall – surpassing what we achieved in Tokyo – is testament to our incredible athletes, coaches and support staff and the years and months of dedicated hard work they all put in. Every Paralympic Games we see competition from around the world getting tougher. Yet in 18 out of 19 sports we competed in, we won medals [wheelchair rugby was the exception].
“Thirty-six debutants got to the podium, and overall 117 athletes won medals. We need to maintain our ambition and build on funding, which will be critical for LA.”
Parsons, meanwhile, explained the bigger picture. “We have a vision to make a more inclusive world through Para sport. The athletes’ village was symbolic of that. The most accessible space we have ever seen. They really raised the bar here.”
‘We have the platform to change the world’
In Paris, 2.5 million spectator tickets were sold. “It shows what needs to be delivered going forward,” Parsons added.
“Challenges, yes, but opportunities. We have the platform with Paralympic sport to change the world, and we have a vision to make a more inclusive world through Para sport. The legacy of each Games will always be about change.”
There will be impact from several GB successes. Games debutant Poppy Maskill, the most successful athlete in the team, finished with three golds and two silvers, while the swimming squad claimed 18 gold medals overall. Cyclist Sarah Storey added two further Para cycling gold medals around the roads of Paris, her 18th and 19th.
Lauren Rowles became the first Para rower to claim consecutive golds at three Games. At the Stade de France, Hannah Cockroft notched up her ninth Paralympic gold.
Yet ParalympicsGB’s success was not just about medals. Archer Jodie Grinham showed that competing while seven months pregnant was no hurdle to success, claiming gold and bronze medals.