Winter 2018 Paralympic Games

By J. Santodomingo

​Pyeongchang is the host city for the winter Olympics and Paralympics. This city is well known for its Buddhist temples and its two major ski resorts, Alpensia and Yongpyong Resort. Pyeongchang is the smallest city to host the Paralympics since Lillehammer (Norway, 1994) and it is also the third city, in Asia, to become an Olympic host. 

As you can see in the table, Pyeongchang defeated opportunities for any other possible host cities to organise the Winter Paralympic games. The difference was huge; Pyeongchang had a 56 vote difference from the second city (Munich). 

Up to now, this awaited competition is being very successful. Politically, it is the first time that North Korea participates in an international peaceful event. The crowd received the athletes with a warm welcome at the opening ceremony and during their sports events. Also, a record has been set in the history of the Paralympic Games: 567 different athletes are taking part in events, from 49 different national regions. 

This competition has not yet finished. The United States is in the lead with most gold medals and most total medals. Followed closely, by the NPA, the Neutral Paralympic Athletes. The NPA has welcomed 30 athletes from different nationalities. They also have a flag and an anthem: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIi-dlav2ic

Throughout the Paralympic Games, the athlete Trischa Zorn has the most gold medals and total medals won. She currently has fifty-five total medals, forty-one of them being gold, nine are silver and five are bronze. With all of these achievements, she was added, in 2012, to the Paralympic hall of fame. She competed in the Paralympic Games that took place from 1980 to 2004. She competed for in all the Paralympic Games for the United States. Nowadays, she is a teacher; in the same university that she studied in when she was a teenager, University of Nebraska. She has a rare disease called Aniridia, an unusual genetic eye condition. This is caused by the gene in charge of eye development. This, therefore, causes the eye to stop growing prematurely.