Technology has had a particularly visible impact on the Paralympics. But the the most important thing is to let the athlete’s ability come to the fore.
The author, Bridie Kean, at the London Paralympics in 2012.
Australian Paralympic Committee
Australian Paralympic athlete reflects upon how her experience as a student-athlete influenced a pilot program for Para-athletes to combine the pursuit of Paralympic success and study
A new Russian hack has claimed to reveal the details of so-called therapeutic use exemptions. But could transparency in this area be a benchmark for the fight against drugs in sport?
Coach John Triscari talks to the Australian Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball team during the Women’s Gold Medal Game at the London 2012 Paralympics.
EPA/Daniel Karmann
The Paralympic Games started off as a way to motivate and rehabilitate returned servicemen and women after the second world war, and has evolved tremendously since then.
Many para-athletes have different degrees of disability. So how to level the playing field?
Australian Paralympic Committee
The achievements of the Paralympians, and societal shift towards more inclusivity and the celebration of diversity, has had a dramatic effect on the lives of people living with disability.
Predictions that top women athletes will soon be competing with the best men, and may even outperform them someday, have not borne out.
Ted Goldring/Flickr
A 1992 paper predicted that if women’s running performance continued to improve as rapidly as it had since the 1920s, top women athletes would soon be running as quickly as the men.
These athletes have the strength, speed and spring to jump over 18 metres.
Does it make sense to target female athletes with high testosterone levels? Caster Semenya competes in the women’s 800-meter semifinal during the London Olympics.
Gary Hershorn/Reuters
Some women naturally produce high levels of testosterone. Why is this innate condition treated differently from other conditions that potentially enhance athletic performance?
The countries who regularly top the medal table spend millions on training and developing athletes, money that poorer countries simply can’t afford to spend on their sporting stars.
Kenyan athletes exercise in the early morning near a high-altitude training camp.
Reuters/Siegfried Modola
With weeks to go before the Olympics, it’s unlikely Kenya will be sanctioned over fresh doping claims. No matter what happens, a shadow will be cast over the integrity of the country’s athletes.
Using our heads. New ways to battle doping in Olympic year.
Duncan Rawlinson/Flickr
Football, cricket, athletics, rugby – whatever the sport, the tears are never far away, for both the stars and the spectators.
Caster Semenya was withdrawn from competition in 2009 on the basis that her higher-than-normal testosterone level conferred a performance advantage.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
Professor of Social Inclusion - UTS Business School - Centres for Business and Social innovation, and Business Intelligence and Data Analytics, University of Technology Sydney
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford