‘Disgrace’: Australia’s triumphant Paralympians shamefully dudded

Paralympics funding is in the spotlight after a cruel disparity between Australia’s able-bodied athletes and “superhumans” was revealed.

Australia’s triumphant Paralympians will reportedly not receive the same cash prize as their Olympic counterparts at the Tokyo Games. Pictures: Getty

Australia’s triumphant Paralympians will reportedly not receive the same cash prize as their Olympic counterparts at the Tokyo Games.

As revealed by SBS News, Paralympic Australia does not have the funds to award medal bonuses to athletes who stand on the podium in Tokyo.

According to the report, the Australian Olympic Committee offered a cash prize of $20,000, $15,000 and $10,000 for gold, silver and bronze winners respectively, but Paralympic medallists will receive nothing.

Physical Disability Council of NSW chief executive Serena Ovens said: “We prize our Olympians but still don‘t think our Paralympians have attained the same sort of elite level.

“Paralympians work as hard, if not harder, to get to where they’re at to compete for their country.”

Canada similarly does not give cash prizes to medal-winning Paralympians, while host country Japan awards its gold medallist $25,000 less than their able-bodied counterparts.

Radio presenter Anna Vidot posted: “This is not cool. It’s 2021, fer crying out loud, surely we should have fixed this by now and can we fix it now please?”

The Guardian’s Luke Henriques-Gomes tweeted: “It would be great to see the federal government step in here and help out. I reckon most Australians would agree.”

The superhumans get nothing??? That’s a disgrace.
“Australian Olympians who won gold at the Tokyo Games received $20,000. Our Paralympians will get zero” https://t.co/OCd93DzXIW

— 🩴 Annie Parker 🩴 #SmashThePatriarchy #teamAZ💉 (@annie_parker) August 28, 2021

Australian sprinter Scott Reardon said the absence of a medal bonus elucidates the lack of funding in para-sport.

“In a perfect world, we would have equality across the board – in men’s sport, women’s sport, para-sport. But the reality is we are treated differently, and we lag behind,” Reardon told SBS News.

“There’s a lot of para-athletes who simply don’t make much money. They have to work full-time and be a full-time athlete at the same time. It’s not conducive at all to being the best in the world.

“I know a lot of Paralympic gold medallists who do not have a sponsor, who do not have a commercial agreement with any company, and I think that needs to change.

“With it being on commercial television, the bigger the audience that we have, the more businesses and people with money will realise that it’s an investment and a platform for them to advertise. Maybe then we can achieve equality.”

Reardon kicked off his Paralympic campaign on Sunday evening, registering a time of 12.80s in the men’s T63 100m heats.

The 31-year-old will be hunting gold in the 100m final on Monday evening, with the race scheduled to commence at 9.33pm AEST.