The Olympic Games captivated the nation a few weeks ago and they were officially our most successful ever. And now, us Australians get to do it all over again when we cheer on our mighty Paralympians at the Paris Paralympic Games.
160 athletes across 17 sports will form the next chapter of Australia’s vibrant story at the Paralympics, with six of the inspirational Aussies competing in the French capital over the next 10 days having a special local connection either through birth, residency or training base.
From August 29 to September 8, the Weekender encourages you to gather up your green and gold once again and cheer on your local athletes to glory.
Back for his third Paralympic Games is Penrith-born Para-archer Jonathon Milne. The 38-year-old, who has tetraplegia following a diving accident, will look to add to his bronze medal from Rio when he competes in the Individual Compound event in Paris.
Also born in Penrith and back for his third Paralympics is Para-athletics star James Turner. The 28-year-old, who lives with cerebral palsy, will race in the 100m and 400m. Turner already has two gold medals and one silver medal from previous Paralympics.
Over in the pool, three-time Paralympian Paige Leonhardt will be doing Penrith proud when she competes in three Para-swimming events. The 23-year-old, who has an intellectual impairment due to a car accident, will race in the 100m Fly, 100m Breast and 200m Medley in Paris.
Making her Paralympic debut is fellow Penrith-born Para-swimmer Ella Jones. The 23-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, will aim for a medal in the 100m Back and 400m Free events.
While he no longer resides in the local area due to relocating to Queensland, Penrith Para-rowing legend Erik Horrie returns to the Paralympic arena for the fourth time. The 44-year-old paraplegic, who trained every day at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, will look to better his three previous silver medals when he contests the Single Scull event.
Finally, Penrith-born Para-cyclist Amanda Reid is back for her fourth Paralympic Games. The 27-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, will race in the 500m Time Trial, Individual Time Trial and Road Race. Reid has been very successful at previous Paralympics, winning gold in Tokyo and silver in Rio.
As touched on earlier with our local athletes, the Australian team is brimming with experience of a combined 196 Paralympic Games appearances, including 11 appearances for other nations.
The team is 56 per cent male and 44 per cent female. 61 athletes (38 per cent) will make their Paralympic debut, and the average age of the Australian athletes in Paris will be 31.3 years.
“This is a team that all Australians can get behind,” Australian Paralympic Team Chef de Mission, Kate McLoughlin said.
“They are incredible athletes, exceptional human beings and a wonderful example of what can be achieved with determination and resilience.
“This team has taken years to assemble, and I hope everyone who has played a part in supporting and developing our athletes feels a great sense of pride when they see them representing Australia in Paris.
“This team is ready and raring to compete on the biggest stage of all and make all Australians proud.”
A Digital Revolution in Sports Coverage
The Olympics took the country and, indeed, the world by storm last earlier this month. Now, with less than 24 hours until it starts all over again, with the Paralympic Games launching with an opening ceremony in the early hours of tomorrow morning (AEST).
As our Paralympians rest up for what is bound to be a massive 11 days of unbelievable strength and resilience that will captivate audiences across the globe, Hamish Turner, director of 9Now and programming, sat down with B&T to unpack the journey that has led to Nine’s comprehensive coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The digital landscape has transformed how audiences engage with major sporting events, a shift that has been particularly evident during the recent Olympics. “When you think back to previous Olympics, Tokyo was tough—no crowds, lockdowns—it was a very different type of coverage,” Turner said. He contrasted this with the 2012 London Olympics, where, simply as a result of the digital engagement was minimal. Fast forward to 2024, and the scene is entirely different.
Younger demographics, in particular, have embraced 9Now as a “choose-your-own-adventure” platform where they can tailor their viewing experience exactly how they like. “They knew when their events were starting, and they used the platform to navigate what they wanted to watch,” Turner noted. “It was a very active experience, and they were flipping through all the different live channels, going into highlights – and that changed depending on the time of the day. We know that is a challenging time zone, but what we did see is that from 4pm every afternoon, as the live events started popping up on the platform, people started engaging from handball to badminton all the way through to equestrian”.
“We expect that to follow suit with the Paralympics, and we’ll be bringing a very similar experience to life via our platforms. I think we’ll see that from tomorrow night, when those live sports start lighting up on the platform, and that journey begins,” Turner explained. “The Paralympics for us is about understanding those audiences, where they’re engaging, and then hitting them up with other content to try and get them kind of to continue that journey”.
A Deeper Dive into the Paralympic Games
As the Paralympics begin, Nine is set to deliver a similar experience, albeit with a more targeted approach due to the shorter duration and fewer events. “With the Paralympics, you can be more targeted with bringing those events to life,” Turner explained. This strategy includes utilising other popular programs like The Block and news segments to promote the games and drive engagement.
Turner emphasised. This ensures that audiences can easily access the events they are most interested in, whether they are familiar with the sport or exploring something new. “It’s an easy way to navigate, find, and engage with those events on those platforms. We have every live event available to watch. We have highlights for every event, and we’ll have full replays and then also curated highlights. If you want to watch it live, you’ve got that opportunity. If you want to go back in and see a curated version of that, you’ve also got that opportunity,” Turner explained.
“What we saw at the Olympics was it was a very easy platform for people to navigate to what they wanted to watch, or if they didn’t know what they wanted to watch, an easy way to display and promote events that possibly they hadn’t engaged with before. And we saw some interesting stats pop out with that. We expect the same from a Paralympic perspective as well where there may be events that people aren’t necessarily fully aware of, that are brought to life through what is one of the biggest events in the world”.
Connecting with the Human Story
One of the key strategies for Nine is to build emotional connections between the audience and Paralympic athletes. In the recent, and incredibly successful Paralympic and Olympic swimming trials for example, “some of the best engagement we saw was with the Paralympians because of the richness of their stories, the journeys that they’ve been on, and the emotion you can see through their parents who have been on on that journey with them,” Turner explained.
The recent documentary series Beyond The Dream is a perfect example of this, with stories of Olympians and Paralympians alike consistently doing the numbers but pulling at the heartstrings and leveraging the powerful stories of hardships that these athletes have had to overcome to get where they are today.
Turner is confident that it is this emotional connection that will resonate most deeply with audiences. “What we’re excited about is bringing to life these amazing Paralympic stories, and these amazing athletes are looking to perform on the biggest stage that’s available to them,” he said. “The power of that will drive through to audience engagement”.
Looking Beyond the Games
Looking beyond the Paralympics, Nine is focused on sustaining the momentum built through these significant events. “The Olympics and the Paralympics are unique, but they are also about understanding audiences and continuing that journey,” Turner explained. With major sporting events like the NRL finals, Melbourne Cup and the Australian Open on the horizon, Nine plans to keep the audience engaged by offering varied content and leveraging the excitement generated by the Olympics and Paralympics.
The success of Nine’s sports coverage lies in its ability to adapt and innovate in a rapidly changing media landscape. As the Paralympics begin, audiences can expect a powerful continuation of the journey that started with the Olympics, with Nine delivering comprehensive and compelling coverage every step of the way.
A Stage Set for Inspiration: The Paris Paralympic Opening Ceremony
PARIS (AP) — Creative director Thomas Jolly has some lofty goals for Wednesday’s opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, when the heart of Paris will once again become the stage for a stunning artistic display.
“When we cut off the heads of the king and queen here, it changed society once. Maybe this ceremony will be the second time we change society,” said Jolly, who was also in charge of the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics last month.
On Monday, under the sweltering Parisian sun, a hundred dancers, including 20 performers with disabilities, gathered at La Concorde for a final rehearsal under the secrecy of huge banners closing the square. The site hosted several competitions during the Olympics and has now been transformed into a grand open arena centered around the ancient Luxor Obelisk, the French capital’s oldest monument.
Jolly said dance will be central to the show, celebrating all types of bodies through the universal language of movement. Swedish director Alexander Ekman has crafted a rhythmic spectacle where dancers — using crutches, wheelchairs, or adapted tricycles — will interact with pulsating beats.
The music of the event is once again in the hands of Victor Le Masne, who also composed the entire score for the Paris Olympics.
On the eve of the Paralympic rehearsals, Le Masne welcomed a group of journalists into a secluded Parisian studio, offering a sneak peek of the track titled “Sportography,” a blend of organic sports sounds and drum rhythms that captures the essence of athleticism, incorporating real-life elements like the screeching of shoes and the hard breathing of athletes.
Reflecting on his recent collaborations with Céline Dion and Lady Gaga for the Olympic Opening Ceremony, Le Masne shared a few insights into the intense creative process.
He vividly described attending a private rehearsal at the top of the Eiffel Tower, where Dion performed “Hymn to Love” at 3 a.m., just hours before the ceremony. Despite obstacles like rain and Dion’s ongoing health challenges, Le Masne knew that her performance would be nothing short of grandiose.
And he was equally impressed by Lady Gaga.
“I had to work on the ‘Mon Truc en Plumes’ arrangement and then flew to Los Angeles to pitch the idea to her management,” he said. “They loved it, and Gaga immediately immersed herself in learning about French cabaret culture, even perfecting the pronunciation of the old-timey French song. Her professionalism was awe-inspiring.”
For the Paralympics, Le Masne’s approach has evolved.
“This time, I wanted to put the athletes first,” he said, emphasizing the importance of incorporating the physical and emotional sounds of sport.
The ceremony will also see the athletes parade down a section of the Champs-Elysees, Paris’s most iconic avenue, and special efforts have been made to ensure accessibility. The traditional cobblestones have been temporarily covered with a thin layer of asphalt to accommodate wheelchair users. That asphalt layer will be removed after the end of the Paralympic Games, on Sept. 8, said Thierry Reboul, who oversees all Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies.
Unlike the Olympic Opening Ceremony on the Seine, which was marked by stringent security and pouring rain, this event will allow the public to freely watch from along the Champs-Elysees and near the Louvre Museum.
The weather promises to cooperate this time, too, with bright sunshine and clear skies in the forecast.
“But we’re still pretty cautious about that last part,” Reboul joked about the weather conditions.
