Absent from the Winter Paralympic Games since 1998 in Nagano, adaptive sports could make a comeback in France in 2030. Advocates are pushing for this return.
Deprived of the Winter Paralympic Games since 1998, adaptive sports, which includes athletes with intellectual or psychological disabilities, hope to return in 2030.
Put aside since 2000
The sidelining dates back to 2000, in Sydney. At that time, the Spanish basketball team was crowned Paralympic champions, but a scandal erupted when a player and journalist revealed that a large part of the squad, including himself, had no mental disability.
Since then, adaptive sports only made a comeback at the Summer Games in 2012, in three disciplines: table tennis, athletics, and swimming. “I know we were removed due to cheating,” explains Clément Richard, a skier from the French team with autism, “but the categories have become very secure. There are extensive control tests.”
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A “dream”
The Games are his “dream,” like that of “making a living from his sport,” but for now, Clément Richard has mainly faced the “disappointment of not being there in 2026. I’m okay, I’m 18, but for the others, it annoys me.” Currently, competitions such as world championships or World Cups are organized by Virtus, the International Federation for adaptive sports.
But some are working to allow mentally disabled athletes to compete in 2030. Last year, the French Federation (FFSA) – with 66,000 licensees – and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region launched a petition to raise awareness of the cause, with approximately 4,300 signatures to date.
“A year to convince”
“Now is the time to do it,” details the president of FFSA, Marc Truffaut to AFP, “everything must be settled by 2027, as the qualification process starts in 2028. We have a year to convince.” Ideally, several categories could be created, including people with Down syndrome or autism without intellectual disability, in alpine skiing and Nordic skiing events, “the other disciplines, at present, being not practiced or scarcely.”
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“In the natural order of things”
From the CPSF’s side, president Marie-Amélie Le Fur believes that a return is “in the natural order of things, in the vision of the 2030 Games that aspire to be pioneering,” when Cojop, through its president Edgar Grospiron, also stated to Le Figaro to be “in favor of it.”
According to Le Fur, the Paralympic movement has still “evolved on this issue” with a motion adopted at the IPC general assembly in September to “work on this reintegration.”
The decision will be made “through a relational dialogue between the IPC and the International Ski Federation,” which organizes the events. Contacted by AFP, FIS responded that they signed an agreement with Virtus last year, committing to “support the integration process of athletes into the Winter Games, potentially in 2030.”
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Security, an essential point
While affirming that they will “closely observe Virtus competitions” in 2026, they emphasize that “security and the athletes’ performance level” are essential, and the final decision belongs exclusively to the international committee. Several French para-athletes have expressed their support.
“Having seen people competing in the Games after my accident gave a purpose to what I wanted to do, we all have the right to that,” emphasizes skier Oscar Burnham, while his teammate Arthur Bauchet believes that “it would be egotistical to say ‘we host the Games but you are not involved.'”
And while he doesn’t yet have the certainty of being present in the Alps, Clément Richard is preparing. “I told myself I would go and I pray that it works.”
