Women will have record participation in London Paralympics

Detalhes

Publicado em Quinta, 16 Agosto 2012 16:20

The London 2012 Olympic Games marked the advance of women in sport. Forty-seven per cent of the Brazilian delegation was made up of women, who won six of the seventeen medals, including two of the three gold medals the country took home.  It will be no different in the Paralympic Games. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that this year, there will be a record number of female athletes: there will be 1,513 women competing in 18 sports (only 7-a-side and 5-a-side football has no female delegations). In Beijing this number was 1,383.

The number has more than doubled when compared with the 700 athletes who took part in the Barcelona Games in 1992, two decades ago. "it is very encouraging to see that the number of female competitors in the Paralympics has more than doubled in the last 20 years. I am sure that we will see several athletes with inspiring and thrilling performances, who will become role models to others. The growing number of women taking part is essential to ensure equal opportunity in sport. Our expectation with this endeavour is also to increase the number of women in positions of leadership in the Paralympic Movement", states the director of the IPC Women in Sport Committee, Tine Teilman.

In the Atlanta Games in 1996, 790 women took part; 990 in Sydney 2000 and 1,165 in Athens 2004. The increase is also evident in the Brazilian delegation: in Beijing 2008, there were 55 women and this year, there will be 67 (12 more than four years ago).

"The Paralympic Movement has been making great progress in the last few years in relation to the inclusion of women. This has allowed for gender equality and the chance of any female athlete to compete in the high performance Paralympic sport", added Philip Craven, IPC President.

The London 2012 Paralympic Games will be held between the 29th of August and 9th of September. Over 4.2 thousand athletes from 166 countries will compete in 20 different sports. The Brazilian delegation, which has 182 athletes, has the goal of finishing in the top seven in the medal table. In the last edition, Brazil finished ninth, with 47 medals (16 gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze).

Paula Braga, com informações do IPC
Ascom- Ministério do Esporte
Acompanhe as notícias do Ministério do Esporte no Twitter e no Facebook