Is the Paralympics the "Real Olympics"?

      Hello all of you beautiful readers out there, welcome back my loyal readers. As well as if this is your first time on my blog, thank you for tuning in we have a great topic for this week. The main topic for this week's blog is going to be on if I agree or disagree with Dr. Guttman on that the Paralympics adhere to the Olympics maxim better than the Olympics Games. First, before I can say if I agree or disagree with Dr. Guttman, I must lay out what the maxim of the Olympics Games is from the founder Pierre de Coubertin (Figure 1). The original maxim states "the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning, but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering, but fighting well," (Topend, 2026).

Figure 1: Image of Pierre de Coubertin

     Now that the ideals of the Olympics Games have been laid out, I can go ahead on discussing my opinions on whether or not I agree with Dr. Guttman. Yes, I believe that the Paralympics are more closely related to the ideals that Pierre de Coubertin had for the Olympics maxim than the Olympic Games. The reasons I believe this to be true are first off, the Paralympics are built around inclusion on all levels no matter what someone's disability is. This means the Paralympics goes through every process possible to have everyone feel seen and included, regardless of whether that person is winning or not. This of course is quite an important task because as we all know not everyone can win a medal, but that does not mean everyone who participates is not a winner. To the Paralympic it is all about working hard and trying your best, unlike like the Olympic Games which is more centered around the gold medals. My second reason is that to me the Olympic Games seem to care more about which country will win the most amount of gold medals rather than the beauty of all the countries coming together. I believe Dr. Guttman also saw these two reasons when he stated his claim about the Paralympics being the "real Olympics" compared to the Olympic Games. 

     Overall, throughout my lifetime of watching the Olympic Games and in more recent years watching the Paralympics, it is quite clear how well the Paralympics adhere to the original founder's Olympic maxim. Although, I am not saying that the Olympic Games do not adhere at all to the maxim. But, in my lifetime the Olympic Games has always been about which country can bring home the most amount of gold medals. This shows me that the International Olympic Committee cares more about results of a country than the hours of hard work and team spirit. 





References

https://img.olympics.com/images/image/private/t_social_share_thumb/f_auto/primary/fisdefv4m2u2rpgn3eq1

Sports science, fitness testing & event analysis. Topend Sports. (2026). https://www.topendsports.com/events/summer/traditions/creed.htm


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