It’s safe to say the bar has finally been raised. The Paris Paralympic Games seem to have set a new standard for the Paralympic movement, embracing the athletes, promoting the intense competition, and packing the stands every day across iconic venues. The Games also left a legacy of helping shift the disability narrative – away from the tired stories of inspiration and participation, and instead, to stories of incredible competition amongst the world’s best disabled athletes.

As I reflect on the Paris Paralympic Games, here are a few additional thoughts from the 12- days of competition.

Media Coverage: It was incredible to finally watch the Games LIVE on TV and see a variety of sports from Para table tennis to Blind Soccer and every sport in between. NBC listened to our community! They provided representative correspondents on the ground, highlighted athletic prowess and not stories of overcoming and inspiration, and broadcast thousands of hours of coverage across a variety of platforms. The Today Show noted a 125% increase in viewers watching the Paralympic Games, which is not surprising as viewers actually had ample mainstream opportunities to watch the Games.

Ultimately, the increased exposure to the Paralympic Games will lead to greater social change for the disabled – increased awareness, accessibility, and opportunities.

Cheers to the Not-So-Mainstream Sports: A big congrats to the Team USA Para badminton doubles team of Miles Krajewski and Jayci Simon knocking out the 2-seed team from India and going on to win the silver medal. This doubles team made Team USA history by being the first two Americans to ever bring home a medal in the sport of badminton for either an Olympic or Paralympic Games! Para badminton leadership has been relentless in their pursuit of growing the sport and identifying world-class athletes. The Paris Games have proven that their years-long strategy worked.

The women of Team USA Para Equestrian continued to dominate the podium in Paris with seven medals – their most successful Games since 1984. Congrats to Liana Mutia who became the first U.S. female Paralympian to win a medal in Para judo (57kg). A special shout-out to these sports that don’t have the biggest budgets or following, but have been focused on their athlete development goals and the continuous pursuit of excellence.

Congratulations to all Team USA athletes who dedicated years to training and sacrificed so much to compete at the highest level!

Building Fandom: With the evolution of adapted sport innovation and technology, competition gets faster, more fierce, and more intense, which makes for exciting matchups of rivals and newcomers. It also makes for great fandom as spectators follow and cheer on their favorite athletes and teams. Google Trends reported the worldwide search interest of Paralympic Games was up by more than 400% this year.

Looking Toward the Future and LA28:

Following on the heels of such a successful Paralympic Games, the critical question is: how do we keep the Games and the “Inclusion Revolution” top of mind, especially as the torch has been passed to LA28? What strategies will LA28 implement to create a lasting legacy for the disability community across the U.S.? The 2012 London Games drove a significant increase in employment across the UK for the disabled population. The legacy of the Paris Games may very well be improved access to transportation.

One concern with remaining top of mind is that stories about the Paralympic Games and Team USA Paralympians are already nonexistent on NBCsports.com. Even the Team USA website has moved on with scrolling stories from surfing, the Diamond League, and skateboarding. With LA being the media mecca that it is – can LA28’s legacy be keeping disability part of the conversation and not forgotten about until the next summer Games?

Medal Count & Building the Athlete Pipeline: Perhaps another goal for LA28 might be for Team USA to establish itself among the leaders in the medal count. Team USA has not won the medal count in a Summer Paralympics since Atlanta in 1996. The following article from CNN’s Jack Hillcox is spot on in asking, The US dominates the Olympics. Why can’t it do the same at the Paralympics?

Hillcox reported, “So far in the 21st century, the US has only failed to top the Olympic medal table once, but its average place in the Paralympic medals table from 2000 until Paris was fourth.”

As I stated following the Tokyo Paralympic Games, I still believe the best way to boost the Paralympic medal count is to invest in a centralized structure within the U.S. to identify and develop athletes. So many countries – Team GB, Australia and war-torn Ukraine – continue to implement effective strategies around athlete recruitment and identification. I still hear too many stories of U.S. Paralympians learning about the movement through coincidence and happenstance. How do we tap into schools, universities, and rehabilitation facilities to introduce the movement in a more structured way to identify the next generation of Team USA athletes?  

I’m confident the All In Sport community is ready and willing to support such a structure to engage more disability individuals in sport and advance the movement.

I’d love to hear your observations and takeaways from the Paris Games. What stood out, impressed you, or got you thinking? Share in the comments below or on social media!