The Paralympics: Why they are important and how they impact society

The Paralympics, and its records and statistics, are important for the way they can impact society. Thus, when the para-athletes march in the opening ceremony even when some of them are competing under the refugee flag, or when Chu crosses over to the other side of the net to embrace Sivarajan, or when two armless archers, USA’s Matt Stutzman and Mexico’s Victor Sardina, do a ‘feet five’ after a hard-fought contest, the significance of such acts stretches far beyond the narrow confines of sport.