Paralympic Tokyo 2020 sets a record for the number of athletes

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games welcomes 4,403 athletes, including 2,550 male athletes and 1,853 female athletes, from 161 countries and territories, competing in 22 sports with a total of 539 medal sets. This is the Paralympic Games with the largest number of athletes participating in history. Paralympic 2020 also has the special presence of refugee athletes. The athletes participating in the tournament will represent about 1.2 billion people with disabilities around the world. The previous record was set at Rio 2016, with a total of 4,328 athletes competing.

“The fact that Tokyo 2020 broke the record for the number of athletes participating is a testament to the efforts of the National Paralympic Committees and International Federations amid difficulties due to the impact of the pandemic. In the coming days, the fans will create new challenges. exceptional performance to break stereotypes and demonstrate that people with disabilities can also spread positivity, and contribute much to global society,” emphasized Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee. .

With 1,853 athletes, the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics also recorded the highest number of female athletes in history. This is up 10.9% from the record set at Rio 2016, with 1,671 female athletes. “Gender equality in the Paralympic sport has made important strides”, newspaper Marca comment. Paralympic 2020, due to the influence of Covid-19, only received a limited number of spectators in small groups of Japanese students.

“This is great news, as more and more female athletes compete in the Paralympics. Although we are still far from gender equality, we are on the right track. This year’s tournament has doubled compared to the 2000 Sydney Paralympics,” Parsons said.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics also set another record, becoming the most watched Paralympic Games in history. The organizers predict that the tournament will break the global TV audience record with 4.25 billion viewers, breaking the record of 4.1 billion in Rio 2016. More than 150 television, radio and and social networks will cover Tokyo 2020 in 177 countries and territories.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics is scheduled to take place from August 25 to September 5, 2020. However, the tournament was postponed for a year due to the impact of Covid-19. This is the second time Tokyo has hosted the Paralympics, after the first time in 1964.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games opened at the National Stadium in Tokyo on the evening of August 24. Host Japan has the most participating athletes with 254 people, aiming to win 20 gold medals. The Vietnamese sports delegation has seven athletes participating in three sports, including weightlifting, swimming and athletics.

Hong Duy synthetic