Paralympics: Where to follow?

If you thought that the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games marked the end of sports from London, think twice. The Paralympics are beginning in 10 days.

The media coverage probably won't be as ubiquitous as it was for a few weeks when you, literally, could not escape the Olympics action on NBC and on the web. And if you are one of those people who wanted to "find out" the results while enjoying the prime time coverage, you had to watch "spoiler alerts" every time you logged onto Facebook or Twitter.

That probably won't be the case with the Paralympics, but there will still be some opportunities to follow the competition in 21 sports including goalball, rowing, sitting volleyball or wheelchair basketball.

ABC, an Australian channel will be providing coverage and radio streaming on the web. BBC and Channel 4 have online coverage set up, but it seems that these services are not accessible in the United States. The websites are still helpful, though. Channel 4 also has a Twitter account @C4Paralympics.

While browsing for other media options, I found the official Paralympic YouTube channel the most helpful so far. The channel features videos from previous Paralympic Games, interviews, and "tutorials" on how the sports are played.

Since television coverage of the Paralympics in the U.S. is basically non-existent, sports fans will have to find other ways to follow. Thankfully, now social media can keep us updated during the day. (See an earlier post on our blog.)

The stories from London continue. Most recently, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC)  announced that the 2012 games will welcome a record number of participants, including a record number of female athletes.

More to come. Competition starts on August 29th and lasts until September 9th. Stay in the loop.

-- Dunja Antunovic

Adding to the discourse

When it comes to disabled athletes (an already much contentious term), their voices aren't heard too much in the conventional media.

That is unfortunate because sports discourse would benefit from their greater inclusion. Well, Andrea Bundon of The University of British Columbia is working to change that.

Bundon announced during her Friday presentation at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport's annual meeting that she is collaborating with disability sports athletes on a new blog. It will examine how disability sports are performed, help athletes stay in contact with each other and bolster discussions about how to better improve athletics.

The Athletes First blog is slated to go live in the next week or so, and it appears to be one to observe regularly.

-- Steve Bien-Aime

Study finds troubling coverage of Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius

A new study by researchers associated with Penn State's John Curley Center for Sports Journalism examines print coverage of Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius' quest to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The study, recently published in the International Journal of Sport Communication, provides a textual analysis of New York Times and Time magazine coverage of the sprinter’s case. In January 2007, the IAAF (track’s governing body) barred Pistorius from competition, arguing that his “Cheetah” prosthetics provided a “clear mechanical advantage.” Four months later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the IAAF decision, citing a lack of conclusive evidence as well as new findings that refuted the governing body’s ruling; however, Pistorius ultimately failed to qualify for the Beijing games.

Drawing on Foucault's ideas about the body, this study finds that media discourses surrounding Pistorius reinforced “an unjust but seemingly natural body hierarchy” (p. 303), perpetuating a view of the able body as the cultural sporting ideal. Deviant bodies, like Pistorius’ and those of other athletes with disabilities, are constrained through discursive mechanisms and institutional structures of biopower that function through the knowledge and regulation of sporting bodies.

While some media coverage offered progressive perspectives on disability and sport, this study finds that media discourses concerning Pistorius generally revolved around issues of fairness in competition. The New York Times, for instance, suggested that Pistorius’ performance begs the question of whether he’s “too abled.” As the authors of this study argue, though, “[T]he too abled label reinforces body hierarchies rather than challenging them. It is not that Pistorius was too fast or too talented. It is that he, like other athletes with disabilities, is too different” (p. 303).

According to the study, the discourses of fairness in competition (a powerful normative value of sport) positioned Pistorius as deviant—a threat to the values, integrity, even very nature of sport. Other themes identified by the researchers reflect this apparent threat: a privileging of a medical view of disability (rather than the more progressive social view); descriptions of prosthetics that reflect cultural assumptions about “normal” bodies; and particularly troubling use of dangerous “cyborg” imagery.

This analysis provides a lens on the role of discursive mechanisms in the classification and categorization of bodies that don’t conform to a seemingly natural, but ultimately unjust body hierarchy. Media discourses concerning Oscar Pistorius, as “contested sites for meanings inscribed on the body,” reflect this tension (p. 288).

--T.C. Corrigan

Another national basketball championship

Although it would be impossible to tell based on media coverage, competitive college basketball didn't finish with the highly publicized games last week for Duke and Butler (men's), and UConn and Stanford (women's).
The National Wheelchair Basketball Association national championships -- including women's college championship games -- wrapped up yesterday in Colorado. The Alabama Crimson Tide handily beat the University of Illinois, coached by former Tide player (and Paralympian) Stephanie Wheeler.

Loved the action in Vancouver? Tune in again

This time, though, you'll have to do it completely online because it's likely that the 2010 Paralympics -- which will run for the next two weeks using Olympic venues -- will receive little-to-no coverage in the U.S.
I've posted before about the reasons we turn away, as a culture, from adapted sport.
That's too bad, because the stories are incredible and the competition is outstanding and entertaining. (If you've seen Murderball, you've gotten an idea of the intensity with which these athletes train and compete.)
To catch the action: See ParalympicSportTV. Another site for updated coverage is the BBC.
--Marie Hardin

The other basketball championships

While most sports fans are tuned into "stand-up" basketball in the form of the NCAA tournament, it's likely they don't know anything about another championship-- the National Wheelchair Basketball Championships this week in Denver. Major universities from all over the U.S. field teams that include top-ranked Paralympic athletes competing at elite levels. It's too bad it doesn't get more mainstream media coverage-- these athletes deserve it. Watch this video to learn more.

Another opening ceremony in Beijing

Most Americans are likely not aware that the world's second-largest sporting event -- the Paralympics -- opened today with ceremonies for thousands of athletes from around the globe. It's hard to get news about the games, although The New York Times has provided some coverage today, and video of events is available online.
Stephanie Wheeler, a wheelchair basketball player on the U.S. women's team, has been sending e-mail dispatches. In her latest, she writes:

"I hope that the Paralympics will prove to be much more than an
arena where medals are won and competitions are held. I hope that this helps to begin to change the face, perceptions, and social identity of people with disabilities in China and all over the world for that matter. Being a part of the Paralympic movement is such an honor and a responsibility that myself and my teammates don't take lightly. Yeah, we are here to compete and win a gold medal, but we are also trying to open the eyes of those who don't believe people with disabilities can live fulfilling lives."

The U.S. team will start going for the gold Sept. 8 with its opener against Germany, also a top-ranked team.

Bionic cover!

ESPN the Magazine's May 5 issue includes a cover story about the ways advanced prosthetics are allowing amputees to compete with able-bodied athletes. It goes beyond the well-publicized story of Oscar Pistorius and features other athletes such as Anthony Burruto.
The cover -- and the story -- are exciting because elite athletes with a disability have received so little media attention. It also forces us to rethink our ideas about the ideal athletic body. Yet the story also raises troubling questions about the continuing marginalization of these athletes -- with and without the prosthetics.

The war's boon to adapted sports coverage

The Washington Post Friday ran a front-page article about U.S. war vets who are trying out for the Paralympic team. As the article points out, more than a dozen vets are vying for a spot on the U.S. team.
Traditionally, the Paralympics have been ignored by the U.S. press, and a quick check on Google News shows that most coverage this year has been in overseas media. But the fact that U.S. military members will represent the U.S. in a new way -- in an international sporting competition -- could help bring the Paralympics the media attention it deserves.

Seeking the 'supercrip'

Beth Haller's new blog, Media-dis-&-dat, includes entries about media coverage of adapted sports and athletes. Her latest entry discusses how wheeelchair athletes are often molded by reporters to the "supercrip" stereotype. She cites a story by tennis player Ruth Harrigan, who was interviewed many times by reporters seeking this type of angle. Haller adds, "I wish more people with disabilities would write about their experiences being interviewed by the news media. Reporters will only start getting it right when enough people tell them what they do wrong."