Tanni Grey-Thompson: 'I hope these Paralympics leave a positive legacy'

That felt pretty special, and a step closer to what all Paralympians desire: for these games to be seen not as a secondary event, but as equally mesmerising as the Olympics. As a Paralympian who has competed in five Paralympic Games – amassing 11 gold medals, four silver and one bronze – this is what I’ve always wanted.

This year’s Games involve 4,400 athletes competing in 549 medal events across 22 sports. They are, for me, the natural culmination of the vision of Dr Ludwig Guttmann, who organised the first official competition for wheelchair athletes in July 1948.

That event involved just 16 injured servicemen and women taking part in archery and netball contests, and it’s impossible to overstate what an achievement it was on so many levels. Back then, when the life expectancy of a paraplegic was between two and six years, they were called the Stoke Mandeville Games, after the spinal injuries unit in Buckinghamshire where Guttmann had undertaken pioneering rehabilitation work.

To showcase these remarkable people, challenging the assumptions of their condition in the name of competition – and demonstrating it could be exciting – was truly trailblazing.

From that seed, a global phenomenon grew. The ninth International Stoke Mandeville Games in 1960, considered to be the first official Paralympic Games, took place in Rome a few weeks after the Italian capital city hosted the Olympics, with 400 athletes from 23 countries taking part.

They’ve grown bigger, with more athletes and an ever-increasing variety of sports. But because very little of it was televised over the years, and even less reported on, it has taken time for the public to catch on. But each Games has brought evolution.

As a former athlete, my second Paralympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 (where I won four gold medals) were particularly special. The Spanish public really bought into it, and it was amazing to perform in a packed stadium.

In 2021, organisers of the Tokyo games worked hard to create an atmosphere of unity and support for all athletes following the grim spectre of the global pandemic, but Covid rules meant there could be no spectators.

Thankfully, those days are behind us and this summer our Paralympians will be competing in front of roaring crowds, as well as an unprecedented number of broadcasters from round the world. The USA will be broadcasting a record amount of live coverage on major channels. When America takes notice, you know that things are changing.

Check out our Paralympics 2024 TV guide, including where to watch the action, exclusive interviews, and a day-by-day TV planner.

Channel 4, who broadcast the Paralympics in the UK, are also innovating. As well as showing an incredible range of sport they have produced a provocative social media advert challenging viewers to think differently about how we view the Paralympics. It includes a girl commenting on how well an athlete has done, "considering" – leaving her boyfriend to ask, "Considering what?"

We all know what the end of that sentence is, of course: "her disability". And that answer goes to the heart of what disability rights campaigners call "inspiration porn". If you haven’t come across the term, it’s the irritating notion that disabled people are inspiring when we carry out day-to-day activities – never mind being world- class athletes.

It’s difficult territory because there are, undoubtedly, hugely inspirational moments in Paralympic sport, just as there are in all sport. But that doesn’t mean every competitive moment – or for that matter, everyone’s back story – is inspirational. I was born with spina bifida and became a wheelchair user when I was young. To me, that’s not a dramatic story, just a fact of my life that shouldn’t get in the way of me being celebrated for my athletic achievements.

Now that I’m retired, I can’t wait to sit on the finish line in Paris and watch amazing sport every day as part of my role as one of the Channel 4 commentary team. As an athlete, you don’t have much time to watch other events, so it’s a huge privilege to have a ringside seat.

And while I usually spend around five seconds thinking about how amazing it would be to be on the starting line, I swiftly remember the gruelling hours of training I’d have to put in, day in, day out, to make that happen.

I’m also eagerly anticipating this year’s Paralympic Opening Ceremony. The Olympics opening ceremony was so different to anything that had gone before, and as the first hour unfolded, I wasn’t sure it worked. But I ended up thinking their ambitious take was hugely laudable.

By holding the ceremony in the city, instead of a stadium – and including Paralympians in the torchlight parade for the first time – it felt like the organisers were signalling that this is a Games for everyone, not just those who are non-disabled or can afford one of the eye-wateringly expensive tickets to the opening feast. And to that I can only say, "Bravo!"

But I hope that egalitarian spirit reaches beyond the Games. Having spent most of my life as a disability campaigner, I know that after the applause in the stadium fades away, the world in general changes very little for disabled people. And so, back to that defining painting that greeted me in that Paris train station, demonstrating that these Games are being perceived as just as mesmerising as the Olympics…

Travelling to Paris by Eurostar, I’d had a wonderful journey, but there were only a handful of spaces for wheelchair users. On the Métro, the pledge to make it more wheelchair-accessible for this year’s Games hadn’t been fulfilled.

In the UK, trains were meant to be step-free by 1 January 2020. They aren’t, and it may be tens of years before they are.

That doesn’t mean that the Paralympics don’t lead to positive change: after London 2012, some key Tube stations became step-free, and the spending power of the Games meant that shop owners, businesses, companies and brands thought differently about what they can do to be more accessible.

And yes, there are now more disabled people getting opportunities in the media – it’s refreshing that I’m starting to see disabled people on TV whose numbers aren’t in my phone – but in day-to-day life we’ve still got a long way to go.

I hope these Paralympics also leave a positive legacy – ideally one that doesn’t take decades to unfold.

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will air on Channel 4, More4 and Streaming from Wednesday 28th August 2024.

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