The Italian Paralympic Committee in Rio dedicates an event to the legacy project of 2024.
From Rome 1960 to Rome 2024, the story continues. Casa Italia, hosted in the Parroquia Imaculada Coinceicao, will host a discussion about the legacy of the Paralympics in an event organised by the CIP (Italian Paralympic Committee) and featuring the Rome 2024 Bid Committee. The capital city's Olympic Bid will, in fact, focus on legacy, both in terms of the structures the city will inherit and on the impact of the Olympic and Paralympic Games: encouraging people to participate in sport. The meeting was held at the end of the first day of the Rio 2016 Paralympic competitions, and was opened by CIP president and Rome 2024 vice president Luca Pancalli, along with the Bid Committee's general coordinator, Diana Bianchedi and the head of international relations, Simone Perillo.
What impact can the Games, and especially the Paralympics, have on the host city and country? An extraordinary impact, as the numbers from previous editions, like the London Games, clearly demonstrate. According to the latest 2016 report, compared to the year 2005, when London won the bid to host the Games, an additional 220,000 disabled people now participate in sport in the United Kingdom. What's more, over 36,000 disabled individuals have been involved in the "Motivate East - health and physical activity programme" in East London, which is where the Olympic Park was built.
Results from the Beijing 2008 Games demonstrate that London was not a special case. A report by the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) shows that, besides producing transportation, buildings and accessible structures, the Paralympic games have also improved the way that disabled people see sport, leading to a better lifestyle for over 20 million people.
Rome 2024 aims to be part of this tradition. The project is very focused on both the Olympic and Paralympic phases of the Games, and hopes to use these to speed up work on inclusion and accessibility. "Rome paved the way in 1960," - explains Luca Pancalli, - "creating the first edition of the Paralympic Games. The Bid Committee wishes to use that know-how to organise an even more memorable edition in 2024".
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