European champion questions elite status as para sports seek Paralympic place

Winning a European title does not necessarily make an athlete feel like an elite competitor, Yle reports. A new international event in Finland is giving para sports outside the Paralympic programme a platform to develop and pursue their goal of reaching the Games.

The Guttmann Games at the Pajulahti sports institute in Nastola is bringing together several para sports for the first time under one roof. The programme includes standing tennis, laser run, laser run triathlon, inclusive skating, para dance and para snooker.

Harry Cootes, sports director at World Abilitysport, said the event was intended to give smaller and developing sports international exposure, competition experience and an opportunity to grow.

“This is the first time we have organised a multi-sport event specifically for sports outside the Paralympic programme,” Cootes said.

Athletes from 22 countries are taking part. The sports are using the competition to build their position and future prospects on the path towards the Paralympics.

Reaching the Paralympic programme would mean more than a place in a single competition for many of the sports. It could bring greater visibility, larger audiences and more media attention, potentially opening up new funding opportunities.

Katja Saarinen, sports director at the Finnish Paralympic Committee, said resources for para sport in Finland remained limited and that the support system needed considerable development.

According to Saarinen, elite sport funding in para sport is focused particularly on sports included in the Paralympic programme. Paralympic status is therefore important for smaller sports because participation in the largest international para sport event can increase their visibility.

Wheelchair dance was considered for the programme at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, but the International Paralympic Committee ultimately decided not to add any new sports.

European champion does not identify as an elite athlete

Tuuli Harju is chair of the Finnish Wheelchair Dance Federation and a member of the national team. The reigning European champion has achieved international results with her partner that no Finnish competitors had reached before.

Still, Harju hesitated when asked whether she considered herself an elite athlete.

“You have to be quite good in your own sport to be a European champion. But my life probably is not like the life of an elite athlete in some other sport,” she said.

Harju said she had not really identified herself as an elite athlete. Her rise to the international top had happened gradually and almost unnoticed.

Her understanding of elite sport also differs from that found in many larger sports. She trains hard and with clear goals, but much of her time is also spent on organisational work.

Elite sport funded with borrowed money

Harju’s career shows how much it can take to reach the top of a smaller sport. At one point, she could not afford both training and competition travel.

“You only learn to win by winning, and you only learn to compete by competing. At a certain stage of your career, you have to compete a lot around the world, and it becomes very expensive,” she said.

When international competition experience was most needed, the sport had not yet achieved enough recognition to attract sponsors.

Harju did not compete at the Guttmann Games because injuries have overshadowed her current season.

Paralympic inclusion could change everything

Wheelchair dance has already come close to securing a place at the Paralympics. Harju said the sport made the shortlist for the Paris Games, but the number of participants ultimately became an obstacle.

The goal remains clear: the Paralympics.

If wheelchair dance is ever added to the programme, Harju believes it would bring the sport greater visibility above all.

“If the competitions were televised and written about, national stars would emerge and people would become interested in them,” she said.

According to Harju, wheelchair dance’s international governing body, World Abilitysport, is working to increase participation and attract more countries. That could eventually open the door to the Paralympics.