The modern Paralympic movement took its first steps at Stoke Mandeville Hospital under Dr Ludwig Guttmann. The IPC is now expanding the roster of Paralympic events.
In a surprise move, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is broadening the roster of events at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. In deference to Great Britain’s founding approach to the parasport movement, one or possibly two more events (based on British pastimes) will be added to those already on the schedule.
The three sports under consideration are all perfectly suited to disabled competitors and once they have been cleared for performance, the respective international committees will meet to discuss definitive rules and any necessary classifications.
The sports in contention are: conkers, cheese rolling and bog snorkelling. Because cheese rolling and bog snorkelling require infrastructure such as a ‘rolling hill’ and what would likely be an artificial bog, the decision has been taken to defer adding the successful sport(s) until preparations are fully underway for the Tokyo Games. The new sports, will not, therefore, take place in Rio next year.
Conkers is a game that requires little in the way of infrastructure but there is already controversy over whether it should be staged in a traditional outdoors setting or added to the indoor sports schedule. The horse-chestnuts used in the event are likely to be provided by Poland, already a front-runner for a podium finish in the event.
The Bog Snorkelling World Championships take place in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, in late August but it seems clear that the date will be shifted to allow competitors to recover sufficiently before making the trip to Japan.
Cheese rolling has also caused controversy amongst traditionalists, with voices from various IPC member countries requesting that the wheels of Double Gloucester used in the British version be replaced by a slightly firmer, Dutch Gouda.
A decision on which sport(s) will be added is expected this afternoon (1st April 2015). The IPC headquarters in Bonn, Germany are currently being redecorated and operations have been temporarily relocated to Looflirap where the result of a ballot of members will be announced at a press conference. Representatives of the three sports have asked people to take to social media to whip up support for their favoured event before the announcement.
