The Eighth Workshop

The Legacy of the Paralympics in Canada

Legacy is a relatively new area of research, and there are multiple definitions of the term in use. Thus, to research and evaluate different Paralympic Games by comparing them using one set of criteria is difficult. When preparing for the Games as Tokyo is presently doing, what is most important is that negative aspects of legacy are addressed and understood, since positive aspects tend to become the focus.

Legacy is also important to counter criticism against games such as the Olympics and the Paralympics. However, there is currently little research on the legacy of the Paralympics, and what exists remains at the level of case studies. This lack of a solid basis of research is likely to remain a problem.

The legacy of the 1998 Calgary Games are: (1) financial, (2) memories, (3) facilities, (4) human resources. Furthermore, Games results for Canada have shown a clear improvement, and in the 2010 Vancouver Games, Canada took the most number of medals.

Legacy was already considered an important aspect at the time of the 1976 Toronto Olympiad for the Physically Disabled. It led to the establishment of an organization for promoting the legacy of the 2010 Vancouver Games in 1998, before Vancouver won the bid to host the Games. It also led to the inclusion of an evaluation index of the Paralympics in the Olympic Games report. Since the mid-1990's, Canada has also worked to facilitate the cooperation and integration of organizations.

Hosting the Games will not result in all the legacies that were expected, but there can also be unexpected legacies. The conversation on legacy should be led by Tokyo and Japanese society, and not by the Games organizers. There is a need to bring together grassroots perspectives on legacies for the future.