*We Want To Change America
The President of the International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons, was motivated and highly optimistic at the 101st meeting of the IPC Executive Board, held in Madrid last weekend. He defended the television success of Paris 2024 and expressed his confidence in Donald Trump.
A positive message – that’s the general takeaway from Parsons’ words after assessing the start of this new Olympic cycle that will lead the sporting world to Los Angeles 2028. “Changing America” in terms of inclusion and social diversity was one of the key themes of his address to more than 200 delegates.
This event was the first IPC meeting in Spain since 2018 – the same year that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the IPC signed an agreement allowing the Paralympic Games to be held in the same city as the Olympic Games, under certain conditions. This agreement will remain in place until the 2032 Games in Brisbane, unless renewed.
Parsons sought to offer reassurance amid the global turmoil caused by some of Donald Trump’s decisions that have shaken the economy, and in particular the cuts he has introduced in his own country. The IPC president said he was “not afraid” of what lies ahead for LA28. “Trump has been very supportive of the Los Angeles bid committee,” he stressed.
Parsons said that “the Games are an opportunity to raise awareness and improve work on diversity and inclusion in American society”. He put his trust in the US President and his support. “I don’t think he’s going to take any action that would go against the Olympic or Paralympic Games.”
He also pointed to the success of Paris 2024 as an example to be followed in the run-up to the next edition. Television coverage is a key issue. Many measures and decisions are aimed at making sport – and everything that surrounds it – more attractive and engaging for younger generations. However, he highlighted that the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games had achieved “incredible figures” in terms of global television coverage, with a total of 12,941 hours of coverage.
These are historic and record-breaking figures. The number of hours of television content consumed by fans increased by over 80% compared to Tokyo 2020. The power of the internet and new ways of consuming media have helped to drive viewership.
Parsons also touched on three key issues during his speech in Madrid: the situation of transgender athletes, the recent election of Kris Coventry as IOC President and the limited lessons society has learned from the pandemic.
Following Trump’s executive order in February banning transgender people from competing in women’s sports, Parsons pointed to international federations as being responsible for dealing with the issue. He summed up his stance by saying that “every sport is different” and that final decisions should be “based on science”.
His words also focused on the current geopolitical landscape. Parsons was critical, arguing that instead of learning from the events of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the results have been “sad and worrying”. The war in Ukraine, the ongoing conflict in Gaza, with broken ceasefires and unfulfilled promises, are – for the IPC president – signs of regression.
“I thought we would learn something from the pandemic, but we haven’t. The world is going backwards – it is getting worse. It makes me sad, even though sport can make life a little less difficult for these people,” he said. His recent visit to Sarajevo made him think. Parsons noted that, even after three decades, “you can still feel the war”. “The same thing could happen in Ukraine,” he added.
He lamented that despite the passage of time and all the devastation, humanity has not yet found ways to resolve conflicts without war. “It disappoints me as a human being that our species still hasn’t found another way to solve these problems – that people are still killing each other.”
Finally, Parsons said Coventry’s election as IOC president was “good news for the Paralympic movement”. The 41-year-old Zimbabwean, who won seven Olympic medals as a swimmer, will succeed Germany’s Thomas Bach on 24 June, becoming the first woman in history to hold the position.
Parsons will attend the 22nd IPC General Assembly in Seoul in September, where he will be eligible to stand for a third term as president. He was first elected in 2017 and is up for re-election in 2021.
