Going for Gold: Your Guide to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

Go Team Canada! Meet British Columbia's dedicated athletes competing in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and discover how you can catch every moment.

Posted on August 30, 2024
by Lydia Wood

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

Learn more about Nicholas.

Austen Burns

PARA EQUESTRIAN

Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia

Residence: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Learn more about Austen.

Yuka Chokyu

PARA BADMINTON | WHEELCHAIR TENNIS

Hometown: Kashiwa, Japan

Residence: Vancouver, British Columbia

Learn more about Yuka.

Nathan Clement

PARA CYCLING | PARA SWIMMING

Hometown: West Vancouver, British Columbia

Residence: West Vancouver, British Columbia

Learn more about Nathan.

Kady Dandeneau

WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL

Hometown: Pender Island, British Columbia

Residence: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

Learn more about Kady.

Danielle Ellis

SITTING VOLLEYBALL

Hometown: White Rock, British Columbia

Residence: White Rock, British Columbia

Learn more about Danielle.

Joel Ewert

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY

Hometown: Prince George, British Columbia

Residence: Prince George, British Columbia

Learn more about Joel.

Cody Fournie

PARA ATHLETICS

Hometown: Rimbey, Alberta

Residence: Victoria, British Columbia

Learn more about Cody.

Byron Green

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY

Hometown: Comox, British Columbia

Residence: Vancouver, British Columbia

Learn more about Byron.

Bo Hedges

WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL

Hometown: Wonowon, British Columbia

Residence: Wonowon, British Columbia

Learn more about Bo.

Trevor Hirschfield

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY

Hometown: Langley, British Columbia

Residence: Parksville, British Columbia

Learn more about Trevor.

Peter Isherwood

PARA TABLE TENNIS

Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia

Residence: Vancouver, British Columbia

Learn more about Peter.

Rio Kanda Kovac

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY

Hometown: Richmond, British Columbia

Residence: Toronto, Ontario

Learn more about Rio.

Tara Llanes

WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL

Hometown: North Vancouver, British Columbia

Residence: North Vancouver, British Columbia

Learn more about Tara.

Jennifer McCreesh

SITTING VOLLEYBALL

Residence: Smithers, BC

Learn more about Jennifer.

Travis Murao

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY

Hometown: New Westminster, British Columbia

Residence: Toronto, Ontario

Learn more about Travis.

Melissa Pemble

PARA CYCLING

Hometown: Victoria, British Columbia

Residence: Victoria, British Columbia

Learn more about Melissa.

Nate Riech

PARA ATHLETICS

Hometown: Victoria, British Columbia

Residence: Victoria, British Columbia

Learn more about Nate.

Maryam Salehizadeh

GOALBALL

Hometown: Tehran, Iran

Residence: Vancouver, British Columbia

Learn more about Maryam.

Rob Shaw

WHEELCHAIR TENNIS

Hometown: North Bay, Ontario

Residence: North Bay, Ontario & Kelowna, British Columbia

Learn more about Rob.

Greg Stewart

PARA ATHLETICS | SITTING VOLLEYBALL

Hometown: Kamloops, British Columbia

Residence: Kamloops, British Columbia

Learn more about Greg.

Felicia Voss-Shafiq

SITTING VOLLEYBALL

Hometown: Burnaby, British Columbia

Residence: Burnaby, British Columbia

Learn more about Felicia.

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