Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was.
The Paralympic Games end tomorrow after nearly two weeks of incredible athletic feats. On a purely results basis, New Zealand hasn’t done that well. As of writing (Friday), we’re yet to win a gold medal and are placed 61st out of 74 on the medal table, with four silvers and three bronzes. In 2020, New Zealand Paralympians took home 12 medals (six of them gold). There is a fine balance between being encouraging and being patronising, but ultimately, everyone in Paris is a world class para athlete and vying for gold, so there’ll surely be some disappointed people in the NZ camp this week.
But despite the tally, the 2024 Games have produced some incredible moments. Anna Grimaldi winning a bronze in the T47 women’s 100m with a personal best (and Oceania and New Zealand record) is a standout. In fact, it’s been the track and field para athletes who have shone particularly bright, with shot put medallist Holly Robinson still to compete in her preferred event (javelin).
Beyond the New Zealand team, the “most online” Olympics has turned into the “most appreciated” Paralympics thanks to impressive clips of blind long jumpers using vocal guides as markers and archers hitting bullseyes after releasing arrows with their mouths. The Paralympics have grown every year and will continue to grow, despite disabled people still struggling for support and awareness in their home countries, including here.
New Zealand para athletes left for Paris just months after a new report showed that someone with a disability could pay up to $5,500 more a year due to recent government policies – like increases in public transport fares and the return of prescription co-payments – that disproportionately impact the disable community. Not to mention the sudden changes to Whaikaha funding that would limit the funding available to disabled New Zealanders.
So yes, the New Zealand Paralympics team has not brought in the medal results we’d hoped for. A disappointment that pales in comparison to that felt regularly by every disabled New Zealander just trying to live their life.
This week’s episode of Behind the Story
Introducing The Spinoff’s very first Help Me Hera live event at Q Theatre in Auckland. After more than 80 columns, Hera’s advice spans the spectrum of human troubles. For our live event, we revisited three problems from the archives, talked about Hera’s response, and heard updates from the callers themselves.
Note: the callers emailed in their updates so the voices you hear won’t be their actual voices. Instead you’ll hear some of the greatest voice talent that works in the Spinoff offices.
So what have readers spent the most time reading this week?
- Liam Rātana’s excellent explainer on the behind-the-scenes machinations involved in choosing the new Māori monarch, Ngā Wai Hono I Te Pō Paki
- This week’s Cover Story: Tasha Black on the ground with the New Zealanders fighting in Ukraine
- Tara Ward with a welcome back to one of the best dramas on television
- Apropos of nothing, Hayden Donnell ranks the best times and places to eat toast
- A 35-year-old apartment owner with a ‘weakness for pastries’ shares the ins and outs of her finances in this week’s Cost of Being
Comments of the week
“I disagree that gold standard can and should be met on push doors. Too often, the angle and upper body strength required to hold a push door open from the inside means either the door isn’t fully opened or the gentleman in question is standing at hinge or closer, forcing a weirdly close walk past.On a push, go silver standard and hold it sensibly on the outer edge. Gold standard should be reserved for pulls.”
“I’m autistic so if I didn’t make the toast in just the right way, I’m not eating it and there’s no chance of me eating toast made by someone else. After the birth of my first baby, my midwife made marmite on toast (a tricky one to get right) and I can confirm it was the greatest toast of my life. It wasn’t hot and the ratio of marmite to butter wasn’t perfect but none of that matters when you spent the afternoon and evening pushing an entire human from your body.”
— Kirsty
Pick up where this leaves off
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