As the curtain falls on the Paris 2024 Paralympics, New Zealand chef de mission Raylene Bates says the challenge is to find and support the next generation of athletes as global Para sport grows ever stronger.
Paddler Peter Cowan added one last flourish to the Kiwi effort overnight, claiming KL3 va'a bronze in the last event contested at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
His performance brought the NZ medal tally to nine — one gold, four silver and four bronze — with athlete Anna Grimaldi also waiting until the final day of competition at Stade de France to secure their only victory of the Games over 200 metres.
Historically, New Zealand have been at the forefront of Paralympics competition, claiming 210 medals — including 81 gold — since they began at Tel Aviv 1968. We netted 25 medals at the joint Stoke Mandeville/New York Games of 1984 and a record nine gold at Rio 2016.
At Tokyo 2020 the Kiwis won six gold, three silver and three bronze, but Bates said the international Paralympics movement has come on in leaps and bounds since the Covid-delayed event.
"The medals are one thing, but the performances are another," she told TVNZ. "To have our debutants make top eight and finals, and achieve [personal bests] is what you ask for at a pinnacle event.
The long jump specialist clocked a new Oceania record to win. (Source: TVNZ)
"So many fourth placings and so many by a millimetre of nothing also shows the standard worldwide has come up, so a lot of those performances that were fourth would have been medals — and some silver and gold — at Tokyo."
Two-time defending champion Grimaldi missed out on the podium in her specialist long jump event by one centimetre, but her distance would have still won three years ago. Teammate Will Stedman also missed a long jump medal by one centimetre with a distance that would have secured silver at Tokyo.
Swimmer Cameron Leslie missed the last Paralympics, but twice finished fourth at Paris. His times over 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle would have medalled previously.
"We had a major growth in our sport post 2016 Rio Paralympics," said Bates. "Public awareness, increased funding from the government, integration of sports and I think, worldwide, that's happening as well.
"A lot of government investment into para sports across the board and a lot of integration into high performance programmes. The top coaches across the world are now coaching integrated squads.
"As a nation, we were on the forefront of that post Rio, whereas everybody else is now starting to catch up, and starting to implement development programmes and pathways. Our challenge now, with only 5.3 million people, is to find the next generation of athletes for Los Angeles 2028, but more importantly for Brisbane 2032."
Another major impact on the medal table was the absence of our most decorated Paralympian — swimmer Sophie Pascoe — who has has won 11 gold, seven silver and a bronze across four Games, but co-hosted TVNZ's live coverage of Paris, after giving birth to a son in April.
Pascoe, 31, hasn't ruled out a return to the pool for Los Angeles in four years.
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