Paris Games: Paralympics Australia helps secure big win for athletes

Paralympics Australia officials have helped secure a major win for athletes ahead of the Paris Games. Find out why the win is so important for athletes inside.

Heavy lobbying from Paralympics Australia has helped athletes avoid potentially catastrophic effects of the Paris heat later this year, with organisers agreeing to install air conditioners in 30 per cent of apartments in the athletes’ village.

Paris 2024 organisers were adamant they would not fit airconditioning in the villages for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in a bid to reduce the event’s carbon footprint.

An underground cooling system will be used instead to maintain temperatures in a comfortable zone, although the prospect of a heatwave similar to the one that caused record 42C days last year is feared.

Australian Chef de Mission for the Paris Paralympics Kate McLoughlin, has won concessions on air conditioning in the athletes’ village. Picture: Morgan Sette

But Paralympics Australia Chef de Mission Kate McLoughlin, with the support of other national Paralympic committee heavyweights, lobbied against the decision arguing airconditioning was an important health measure for athletes.

“We flagged the heat concern with the organising committee back in September last year,” McLoughlin said.

“They weren’t going to give any airconditioning units to para (sports apartments).”

Instead National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) were to be forced to hire cooling units for the duration of the Games if they were to go against the official no aircon policy.

“We pushed back really hard,” McLoughlin said.

“There are a number of countries that I worked closely with and we all advocated at the same time to say roughly 30 per cent of our team have trouble thermoregulating.

“It’s not it’s not just an issue of performance and comfort, it’s actually a health issue for our athletes.”

The buildings at the Paris 2024 Olympic village on its inauguration day in Saint-Denis, northern Paris. The village, constructed on a 52-hectare site is located on a cluster of former industrial wastelands with the centerpiece being the Cite du Cinema. Picture: AFP

The result was a win for the athletes, with organisers agreeing to fit airconditioning into 30 per cent of apartments in the Paralympic village.

Paralympics Australia will top that up, working with the Australian Olympic Committee - who will spend more than $100,000 to fit airconditioning to athlete apartments during the Olympic Games - to have those units available during the Paralympics.

Many Paralympians, especially those with spinal cord injuries, have issues regulating their core body temperature and need a stable environment to ensure they can be in peak condition to compete.

“We’ve got great recovery physiologists from the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) working with us and they’ve told us it can actually have an impact of between five and 10 per cent performance detriment,” McLoughlin said of the impact of overheating.

“That’s not just the difference between a gold medal and a silver medal, that’s the difference between an athlete finishing a race (or not).

“So it’s really important that we get it right particularly with our athlete cohort with their underlying impairments.”

How our athletes will live at the Paris Olympics. Picture: AFP

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is adamant the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be as eco friendly as possible, providing a carbon reduction blueprint for others to follow.

But McLoughlin said this could not come at the expense of the athletes.

“Whilst it’s really admirable to look at sustainability and find ways to reduce carbon footprint, it can’t be at the expense of accessibility,” said McLoughlin, citing the example of a proposed ban on bottled water in the athlete dining hall.

“If you’re a wheelchair user or you’ve got limited mobility in your hands, and you’ve got a tray in your lap and then you’ve got to get a cup and fill it up, it’s so much harder than grabbing a bottle of water from a fridge.

“It’s good the way they’re thinking but they just need to think about universal design as well.”

In a city as old as Paris there are also logistical challenges for athletes with disabilities, although the opening ceremony route along the famed avenue of the Champs-Elysees leading to the Place de la Concorde, will not be among them.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is adamant the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be as eco friendly as possible, providing a carbon reduction blueprint for others to follow. Picture: AFP

Organisers are set to cover the famed cobblestone streets with matting that will allow wheelchair users and those with other difficulties walking on uneven surfaces to easily navigate the opening ceremony path.

The village itself is one of the best McLoughlin has seen since the London Games and sets a new benchmark for accessibility.

While there were initially fears transport to venues could be an issue, city buses are able to cater for up to six wheelchairs each in a move McLoughlin hopes can become a legacy of hosting the Paralympics.

But challenges will remain for athletes hoping to move around the city to visit relatives and friends outside of competition, with the only metro line slated to be fully accessible by the Games still under construction.

“If they do want to go and visit family in and around Paris, we’re going to have to give them some fairly strong recommendations as to how they need to get to certain places because it’s not built for accessibility at all.”

Originally published as Paris Games: Paralympics Australia helps secure big win for athletes