When the 2024 Paralympics begin on Wednesday in Paris, New Jersey will be represented in multiple sports and events by athletes with disabilities. Here’s everything you need to know about the opening and closing ceremonies and the easiest ways to follow all the action live.
When do the 2024 Paralympics begin and end?
Just over two weeks after the closing of the 2024 Summer Olympics, the Opening Ceremony for the Paralympics is set for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 28. About 6,000 athletes and officials from 184 delegations will parade from the Champs-Elysées to Place de la Concorde. It will be the first Paralympics Opening Ceremony held outside a stadium.
The Closing Ceremony will be on Sunday, Sept. 8.
More: 2024 Paralympics competition schedule
What sports do they play at the Paralympic Games?
There will be 22 sports at the 2024 Paralympics. The two newest, badminton and taekwondo, debuted at the previous Games in Tokyo.
Most, like archery, swimming and track and field, have parallel Olympic sports. However, goalball – where blind players lie on their sides and use their bodies to stop a ball from crossing a goal line – does not. Neither does boccia, which is similar to bocce but played by athletes with limited motor skills.
Events will be streamed on the Paralympic Games YouTube channel and the International Paralympic Committee website. Like the Olympics, NBC will be the official broadcaster in the United States with events slated for both television and livestreaming on Peacock.
Why is it called the Paralympics, anyway?
German neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttman was trying to create new forms of rehab for paraplegic World War II veterans at a hospital in Stoke Mandeville, England. As the 1948 Olympics were taking place in London, Guttman organized his own competition for 16 injured service people, participating in archery and netball from their wheelchairs.
The first Paralympic Games included 400 athletes – all wheelchair users – from 23 countries. It took place in 1960 in Rome, after the Olympics. The inaugural winter Paralympics was held in 1976 in Sweden.
Since the Summer Games in 1988 and the Winter Games in 1992, the Olympics and Paralympics have used the same venues and host cities.
What do the many classifications mean?
Paralympic classification divides athletes by functional ability, so that the individuals competing against each other have similar movement, coordination and balance.
Classification is carried out by medical and technical experts who evaluate the impact of an athlete’s disability on specific tasks and activities fundamental to the sport.
Each sport has its own classification system. Classifications often start with a letter corresponding to that sport, like S for swimming or T for track and field.
Olympics tracker: Look back at New Jersey’s athletes at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris
Who is on Team New Jersey at the Paralympics?
Swimming, United States
The only girl in baseball and basketball leagues while growing up in Toms River, Raleigh Crossley, who uses the pronoun “they,” chose to focus on swimming at age 15. They relocated to Florida after her freshman year at Toms River South with dreams of becoming an Olympic swimmer.
But in 2007, Raleigh Crossley was hit by a drunk driver while crossing the street. A year later, they were struck by another car while again walking. Though Raleigh Crossley became an NCAA Division III national champion at Rowan University, the blunt-force trauma triggered the growth of a non-cancerous brain tumor. On a ski trip in December 2018, Raleigh Crossley experienced paralysis on her left side due to the tumor bleeding.
Four years later, the 37-year-old mother of three began training as a para-swimmer while coaching at the Ocean County YMCA.
▶ When to watch: S9 100-meter backstroke prelim, Sept. 3 at 3:45 a.m.; 100-meter backstroke final, Sept. 3 at 11:44 a.m.
More: Even smashed-up wheelchair couldn’t stop Middletown man pursuing Paris Paralympic dreams
Track and field, United States
Born with cerebral palsy, which affects her motor skills, Guimaraes participated in soccer and track and field at Cranford High School. She was named MVP of the United States women’s CP soccer team which won the inaugural CP Women’s World Cup in 2022.
Guimaraes, who is earning a degree in exercise physiology at High Point University, is believed to be the first NCAA Division I athlete with cerebral palsy.
She will compete in sprints and long jump at the Paralympics.
▶ When to watch: T38 100-meter prelim, Aug. 31 at 5 a.m.; T38 100-meter final, Aug. 31 at 2 p.m.
T38 long jump: Sept. 5 at 4 a.m.
T38 400-meter prelim, Sept. 6 at 3:40 p.m.; T38 400-meter final, Sept. 7 at 2:30 p.m.
Brian Siemann
Track and field, United States
A four-time Paralympian, Siemann has competed in races from the 100 meters to the marathon.
A quadruplet with three sisters, Siemann, 34, was paralyzed from the waist down at birth. He grew up in Millstone, and graduated from Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, where he was introduced to track and field as a freshman.
Siemann is a learning disability/ADHD specialist at the University of Illinois, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
▶ When to watch: T53 400-meter prelim, Sept. 1 at 6:51 a.m.; 400-meter final, Sept. 1 at 1:55 p.m.
T53 100-meter prelim, Sept. 4 at 5:25 a.m.; 100-meter final: Sept. 4 at 1:14 p.m.
T53 800-meter prelim, Sept. 5 at 5:56 a.m.; 800-meter final: Sept. 5 at 1:50 p.m.
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This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Paralympics 2024: Complete list of Paralympians with NJ ties
