Absent from the Winter Paralympic Games since 1998 in Nagano, adapted sports could make a comeback in France in 2030. Advocates are pushing for this return.
Deprived of the Winter Paralympic Games since 1998, adapted sports, which group athletes with mental or psychological disabilities, hope to return in 2030.
Put aside since 2000
The sidelining dates back to 2000, in Sydney. At the time, the Spanish basketball team was crowned Paralympic champions, but scandal erupted when a player and journalist revealed that a large part of the team, including him, did not have any mental disabilities.
Since then, adapted sports only made a return at the Summer Games in 2012 and in three disciplines: table tennis, athletics, and swimming. “I know we were removed due to cheating,” explains French skier Clément Richard, who has autism, “but the categories have become very secure. There are stringent control tests.”
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A “dream”
The Games are his “dream,” like “living off his sport,” but for now, Clément Richard has mainly faced the “disappointment of not being there in 2026. For me, it’s okay, I’m 18, but for others, it annoys them.” Competitions such as world championships or World Cups are organized by Virtus, the International Federation for Adapted Sports.
But some are working to allow athletes with mental disabilities to compete in 2030. Last year, the French Federation (FFSA) – with 66,000 licensees – and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region launched a petition to raise awareness, with about 4,300 signatures to date.
“A year to convince”
“It was now or never,” details FFSA President Marc Truffaut to AFP, while “everything must stop by 2027 since qualification processes begin in 2028. We have a year to convince.” Ideally, creating multiple categories, including individuals with Down syndrome or autism without intellectual impairment, in alpine and nordic skiing events, “other disciplines are currently not or rarely practiced.” A few years ago, several reasons were given to justify the absence of adapted sports.
“This wasn’t safe, it was too dangerous to put a person with an intellectual disability in a ski lift, they didn’t have the required skill level,” Marc Truffaut explains, “we organized World Championships in Tignes, on slopes regularly used for World Cups, gradually all arguments were refuted.”
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“In the natural course of events”
From the CPSF’s side, President Marie-Amélie Le Fur believes that a comeback is “in the natural course of events, in the vision of the Games in 2030 that aim to be pioneering,” while the Cojop, through its president Edgar Grospiron, also stated to Figaro to be “favorable.”
According to Le Fur, the Paralympic movement has still “evolved on this issue” with a motion adopted in the IPC’s general assembly in September, to “work on this reintegration.”
The decision will be made “in a dialog between the IPC and the International Ski Federation,” which organizes the events. Contacted by AFP, FIS responded that it signed an agreement with Virtus last year, where it commits to “support the integration process of athletes in the Winter Games, potentially in 2030.”
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Security, a key point
While stating that she “will closely observe the Virtus competitions” in 2026, she emphasizes that “security and athletes’ level of performance” are essential and that “the final decision belongs exclusively” to the international committee. Several French para-athletes have expressed their support.
“Seeing people in the Games after my accident gave meaning to what I wanted to do, we all deserve that,” says skier Oscar Burnham, while his teammate Arthur Bauchet believes that “it would be selfish to say ‘we host the Games at home but you are not included.'”
And while he is not yet certain of being present in the Alps, Clément Richard “is preparing for it. I said to myself that I would go and I pray that it works out.”
