Hula Report: The struggles of Atlanta 1996 a distant memory as Tokyo Paralympics begin

Memories of the Atlanta Olympics have been bubbling on this 25th anniversary of the Centennial Olympic Games. Michael Johnson’s 200/400 double. Kari Strug’s pained vault landing. The bomb in the park. And Paralympics that helped change the event forever.

This week as the Tokyo Paralympics open, the 25th anniversary of the Atlanta event shows just how far the movement for disabled sport has grown since 1996.

When Atlanta won the right to host the Olympics in 1990, there was no requirement that included staging the Paralympics. Atlanta organizers, who pledged to stage the Olympics without government support, said they had no money to underwrite the Paras.

Eventually Atlanta agreed to a $5 million cash contribution for the separately organized Paralympics committee plus another $10 million in services.

In the days between the close of the Atlanta Olympics and the start of the Paralympics, the disconnect with the two organizing committees became embarrassingly public.

Accommodations used for Olympic athletes were handed over to the Paralympics in need of repair. Rooms were not suitable for some athletes. Staff supposed to help with the transition from Olympics to Paralympics were absent. Equipment and supplies expected by the Paralympics weren’t there. Even something as basic as ramps for wheelchairs were too steep.

It was a clumsy episode that fortunately has yet to be repeated thanks to a pact forged with the IOC and International Paralympic Committee in 1992. Too late for Atlanta 1996, the agreement called for future Olympics and Paralympics to be staged by one organizing committee. Sydney 2000 would be the first host to accept the new role. The integration between IOC and IPC has included IOC membership for the last three IPC presidents. And a Paralympic representative is now always included in major IOC commissions, especially for ones overseeing the staging of Youth Olympic Games and the Winter and Summer Olympics.

Credit the changes to the Atlanta woman who pressed the leaders of the 1996 Games to reconsider their refusal to back the Games. At the same time in 1991 Alana Shepherd was lobbying Atlanta organizers to support a 1996 Paralympics, she also courted then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch to elevate the standing of the Paralympics world wide.

Shepherd, whose family is the benefactor of the world acclaimed Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta, claims she sealed the deal over a dinner in Barcelona with Samaranch. The Shepherd Center has been a stop for numerous Paralympians over the years and continues to play an important part in the disabled sports movement.

Not only did the IOC agreement with the Paralympics unify organizing committees, it turned the page on marketing, too. While some Olympic sponsors such as Coke came forward to back the 1996 Paralympics as the first-ever worldwide sponsors for the Games, others did not. McDonald’s and Visa, not only declined sponsorships but refused to release their product category so that Paralympic marketers could try to find other corporate backers.

Under the new pact, sponsors could no longer overlook the Paralympics. Marketing deals with the IOC now automatically included both Games. Sponsors once reluctant discovered in the years since the value of associating with the Paralympics. Visa, which turned down the 1996 Paralympics is now one of the biggest corporate fans of the event.

In the 25 years since Atlanta, the Paralympics audience has grown along with sponsorship support, In Atlanta ‘96, an estimated 50 million people in 28 countries saw some Paralympics coverage. Tokyo is set to deliver more than a staggering four billion viewers in the coming two weeks via TV and streaming services unavailable 25 years go.

Tensions in Atlanta eased as the Paralympics got underway. The sold-out opening ceremony was star-studded, albeit from another generation. U.S. Vice President Al Gore was there. The late Christopher Reeve played emcee with music stars Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, Liza Minelli and Hall & Oates performing.

A record number 3800 athletes from 128 nations took part in the Atlanta Paralympics. There were 19 sports on the program. More than 4,500 Paralympians from 162 nations and the Paralympic Refugee Team will be in Tokyo; there will be 22 sports on the program.

Crowds in Atlanta were modest for the Paralympics. They were the first for ticket sales. Just under 400,000 were sold, or about five percent of the eight million snapped up weeks earlier for the Olympics.

It is likely Tokyo would have easily surpassed Atlanta and other Paralympics hosts had the pandemic not put a stop to spectators for both Olympics and Paralympics.

A regrettable fact of life for either event, my own experience tells me it may be the Paralympians who will most miss the cheers from the grandstands.

Despite gains for the Paralympics since Atlanta, the audiences for most high-level Paralympic events is not the same as it might be for the Olympic versions. The Paralympics are truly a prize for each athlete coming to Tokyo. Not necessarily for medals won, but for the adulation heaped on them by spectators.

The crowds in Atlanta were modest but noisy and affirming. Four years later, I sat in Stadium Australia for the 2000 Paralympics with tens of thousands of school kids watching track and field events. The high pitched roar from the crowd, so different than an arena filled with adults, was captivating to hear. Never have I ever before heard so many young hearts cheering at once. I am sure it was the same for the Paralympians on the track below.

With memories of this joy of past Paralympics from Atlanta onward, I close with regrets to the Paralympians of Tokyo, who will be saluted equally across the next two weeks, unfortunately with silence from empty arenas.