WHILE the recent Olympics just ended with Malaysia securing two bronze medals, the Paralympics will be starting later this month, It will be an opportunity for athletes with disabilities to compete and do their best in sporting events against others.
While both games are held to celebrate greatness and inclusivity for all, is there an athlete who has competed in both the Olympics and Paralympics?
Verdict:
TRUE
Yes, retired Hungarian fencer Pál Szekeres has competed in both, and here's his story on how he did it.
At 24 years old, Szekeres represented Hungary at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, winning a bronze medal in the team foil event.
He was preparing for the upcoming Olympics event in Barcelona in 1992 to win gold for his country.
Unfortunately, in April 1991, he was injured in a vehicle crash, which broke his spine and left him using a wheelchair.
Szekeres, however, decided not to give up - he found out that he could still fence, and learned how to utilise the wheelchair 'as his friend'.'
He would then head to the Barcelona Paralympics the following summer, compete in the foil event and won gold - making him the first athlete in history who has ever won medals in the Olympics and the Paralympics.
Pál Szekeres.
Szekeres would continue winning more medals for Hungary in the years after - two gold at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta, bronze medals in 2000, 2004, and 2008. He then retired in 2012.
Aside from competing, Szekeres was also selected to hold several positions within the Hungarian government, including being the deputy state secretary in the Children, Youth and Sports Ministry as well as the Ministerial Commissioner and Senior Programme Officer tasked with a government programme to provide equal opportunity through sport for people living with disabilities.
He has also been a member of the board of the European Paralympic Committee and Hungarian Paralympic Committee and President of the Hungarian Sports Federation for the Disabled.
He is the current Chairperson of the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sport Federation (IWAS) Wheelchair Fencing Executive Committee, the global governing body of the sport.
Szekeres also wanted to have a positive impact on the world.
"After the Paralympics (in 1992) I became quite well known. I didn’t want to be famous, I did not celebrate that I was famous.
"Instead, I began to work to change what it was like to be in a wheelchair, and I had a new life and a lot of positive energy," he said.
If this is your feel-good story for the day, do not forget to support our Malaysian Paralympics athletes who will be competing in the events from Aug 28 to Sept 8.
Malaysia is maintaining a target of four gold medals for this edition, and among the sports that Malaysian athletes will compete in are track cycling, badminton, boccia, athletics, archery, swimming, powerlifting, and wheelchair tennis. ( https://www.thestar.com.my/
References::
2. https://wheelchair-fencing.
