The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games are here! From August 28 to September 8, we’ll be cheering on Canada’s amazing athletes, who have put in countless hours of hard work and dedication to reach this moment.
Keep reading to learn more about the Paralympics, British Columbia’s athletes and where you can watch the games.
About the Paralympics
According to the International Paralympic Committee, “The Stoke Mandeville Games later became the Paralympic Games which first took place in Rome, Italy, in 1960 featuring 400 athletes from 23 countries. Since then they have taken place every four years.”
This year, 4,400 athletes from 168 countries are competing in the Paralympic Games, with 126 athletes representing Canada.
Classification
Click here to learn more about various Paralympic sports and classification.
Schedule
Click here to view the schedule for Team Canada.
Where to Watch
We are excited to see increased coverage of the Paralympics in Canada this year! CBC/Radio-Canada is the Canadian broadcast host of the 2024 Paralympic Games. Watch the events on cable or stream on CBC.ca, CBC Gem and the CBC Paris app.
Rob Shaw, who is SCI BC’s National Peer Program Lead and currently competing in Wheelchair Tennis at the Paralympics, recently spoke to CBC about the importance of recognizing athletes’ accomplishments, not just their resilience:
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it. The [Paralympics] coverage has always been a lot poorer than the Olympic games. The stories aren't told as well. And when they are told, they often focus on the disability and overcoming the disability, rather than focusing on the person. As people with disabilities, we understand that people like to hear about that resilience, about that determination to overcome the challenges and barriers we face, but at our core we're still just people. And we want our disability to not always be the focal point. We want our athletic pursuits, our athletic endeavours, our athletic accomplishments to be in the limelight, rather than just the disability itself. Hopefully the stories going around this year are a little bit more balanced, where it's not just focusing so much on the disability aspect but more on the sport as well. I think media are doing their best to steer more towards that direction."
British Columbia’s Athletes
The athletes listed below were born in and/or currently reside in British Columbia, according to the Canadian Paralympic Committee.
Nicholas Bennett
PARA SWIMMING
Hometown: Parksville, British Columbia
Residence: Red Deer, Alberta
Austen Burns
PARA EQUESTRIAN
Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia
Residence: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Yuka Chokyu
PARA BADMINTON | WHEELCHAIR TENNIS
Hometown: Kashiwa, Japan
Residence: Vancouver, British Columbia
Nathan Clement
PARA CYCLING | PARA SWIMMING
Hometown: West Vancouver, British Columbia
Residence: West Vancouver, British Columbia
Kady Dandeneau
WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL
Hometown: Pender Island, British Columbia
Residence: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Danielle Ellis
SITTING VOLLEYBALL
Hometown: White Rock, British Columbia
Residence: White Rock, British Columbia
Joel Ewert
WHEELCHAIR RUGBY
Hometown: Prince George, British Columbia
Residence: Prince George, British Columbia
Cody Fournie
PARA ATHLETICS
Hometown: Rimbey, Alberta
Residence: Victoria, British Columbia
Byron Green
WHEELCHAIR RUGBY
Hometown: Comox, British Columbia
Residence: Vancouver, British Columbia
Bo Hedges
WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL
Hometown: Wonowon, British Columbia
Residence: Wonowon, British Columbia
Trevor Hirschfield
WHEELCHAIR RUGBY
Hometown: Langley, British Columbia
Residence: Parksville, British Columbia
Peter Isherwood
PARA TABLE TENNIS
Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia
Residence: Vancouver, British Columbia
Rio Kanda Kovac
WHEELCHAIR RUGBY
Hometown: Richmond, British Columbia
Residence: Toronto, Ontario
Tara Llanes
WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL
Hometown: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Residence: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Travis Murao
WHEELCHAIR RUGBY
Hometown: New Westminster, British Columbia
Residence: Toronto, Ontario
Melissa Pemble
PARA CYCLING
Hometown: Victoria, British Columbia
Residence: Victoria, British Columbia
Nate Riech
PARA ATHLETICS
Hometown: Victoria, British Columbia
Residence: Victoria, British Columbia
Maryam Salehizadeh
GOALBALL
Hometown: Tehran, Iran
Residence: Vancouver, British Columbia
Rob Shaw
WHEELCHAIR TENNIS
Hometown: North Bay, Ontario
Residence: North Bay, Ontario & Kelowna, British Columbia
Greg Stewart
PARA ATHLETICS | SITTING VOLLEYBALL
Hometown: Kamloops, British Columbia
Residence: Kamloops, British Columbia
Felicia Voss-Shafiq
SITTING VOLLEYBALL
Hometown: Burnaby, British Columbia
Residence: Burnaby, British Columbia
