Snow Not Slowing Paralympic Accessibility

(ATR) Buckets of snow falling in PyeongChang have not hampered team arrivals to the 2018 Paralympic Games.

International Paralympic Committee director of communications Craig Spence told Around the Rings that "unprecedented" levels of snow threatened to derail arrivals to the Games. Instead teams have found an accessible village and venues, with volunteers working to rapidly clear snow.

"I think it is the most snowfall they have had for the last two to three years," Spence said of the weather in PyeongChang. "They’ve been clearing the snow and doing alright."

Spence credited organizers’ foresight to incorporate venue accessibility into the PyeongChang Olympic plan, rather than just waiting until the transition period between the events. The athletes in PyeongChang have been able to move around "quite easily," Spence said. Now the IPC wishes that accessibility plans in rural Gangwon province can be applied to all of South Korea.

So far organizers have sold 285,000 tickets, on par with expectations for the event. The goal for total ticket sales is surpassing the 316,000 sold for the Sochi Winter Paralympics. Currently tickets are going at a rate of 10,000 per day, according to Spence. That rate is being sustained by what the IPC views as a "successful Olympics".

"PyeongChang 2018 has done a good job in engaging group sales for these games, the majority of tickets are group sales," Spence said. "So clearly coming off the back of a successful Olympics has been beneficial. We [now] are working with PyeongChang 2018 to try and increase the capacity at venues."

Ultimately the success of the Paralympic Games will be determined by the level of sport showcased in South Korea. With a raft of new events and the most athletes ever at a Winter Paralympics, Spence says to expect a "spectacular" nine days of competition.

"We haven’t even gotten to the Opening Ceremony and the games are record breaking," Spence said. "We have got more athletes than ever before, and we’ve got more media and broadcasters here than any previous edition, so it shows the Paralympic movement is going in the right direction."

The spectacular competition should extend to the host team, even if South Korea is not known for its Winter Paralympic prowess. The athlete delegation will be led by the para-ice hockey team, which finished third at the 2017 World Championships on home ice. As there were in the Olympics, a few athletes could be buoyed by home crowds and make some unexpected podiums.

"You don’t become a Paralympic champion overnight and [South Korea has] put development programs in place here," Spence said. "That may not come to fruition at these Games but maybe Beijing 2022 or the Games beyond that."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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