The Paralympic Winter Games are in full swing at Milano Cortina and athletes and supporters have expressed their frustration over the lack of coverage of the event.
As Paralympians show us what they are made of on the slopes, audiences from around the world are having to rely on limited highlights packages or streaming services to follow the action, including in Australia.
That is a completely different story to the Winter Olympics, which was extensively covered on free-to-air channels and streaming services.
American Paralympic gold medallist Hunter Woodhall believes broadcasters need to try harder with their coverage of the winter Games. (Getty Images: Patrick Smith)
US track and field Paralympic gold medallist Hunter Woodhall used his social media platform to call out the official US broadcast network of NBC, Peacock and NBC streaming services.
In his video Woodhall said he was not happy with the lack of access to free-to-air coverage and what he felt was substandard commentating for many of the events. He felt the broadcaster wasn’t “even trying”.
The summer Paralympian said his experience at the 2024 Paris Games was “incredible” but the winter event had been “disappointing”.
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It is not just about the sport for Woodhall — in the video he said many of the athletes experienced discrimination daily and the lack of media coverage was adding to that.
The post has attracted hundreds of comments and many share his thoughts on the Games.
One of the responses came from British para powerlifter Louise Sugden, who argued that the hard-working athletes “deserve better coverage”.
Another respondent to Woodhall’s post wrote that after Paris they thought “the Para Games were finally starting to get their due but then this time the coverage completely fell off”.
Call for equal treatment
Alana Baldi, from My Ability Sports Media, has also felt frustrated by the difficulties in accessing consistent and comprehensive coverage in Australia.
Channel Nine is the official Olympic and Paralympic broadcaster, along with its streaming service, Stan, but audiences are only offered a 90-minute highlights package on free-to-air just after lunchtime. The other option is to stream the events.
Ms Baldi says the lack of equity when it comes to coverage is undermining the growth of the Paralympic movement.
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“Paralympians are elite athletes,” she said.
“These athletes deserve the same visibility, recognition and national celebration as their Olympic counterparts.”
This year is the first time Channel Nine has hosted the winter Paralympics.
Channel Seven brought the Games to commercial television in Australia in 2018 at the PyeongChang Paralympics. The ABC held the rights to the preceding Games.
What message does this send?
Dismal coverage is a tale as old as time for not just the winter Games, but the Paralympic movement in general.
For most of the summer Paralympic Games, which began in 1960, coverage was non-existent.
The ABC provided highlights packages for the Sydney Games. (Getty Images: Nick Wilson)
When I swam at the 1996 and 2000 Paralympics, many summer athletes felt the coverage we received was revolutionary. This included a highlights package run every afternoon on the ABC, led by the legendary Karen Tighe, who had been a passionate advocate for Paralympic coverage since the Barcelona Games.
But it wasn’t until 2012, when UK’s Channel 4 completely redesigned the way the Games could be covered, that the summer Paralympics went mainstream.
London 2012 saw coverage significantly improve for the summer Games, making household names out of athletes such as Ellie Cole. (Getty Images: Ian MacNicol)
While Paralympians can and do acknowledge the progress that has been made for the summer Games, for many — including Paralympic swimmer and my former teammate Kate Bailey — it is a battle that the winter Games still shouldn’t be fighting.
“The tokenistic reporting we’ve seen is heartbreaking for both current and past Paralympians,” Bailey told ABC Sport.
“I worry what message it sends to young athletes with disability.”
Nikki Ayers, who won gold alongside teammate Jed Altschwager at Paris, wants to see coverage improve for her winter peers. (Getty Images: Naomi Baker)
Paralympic gold medallist Nikki Ayers acknowledged that the winter event and the Australian team were smaller, Â but said it “doesn’t mean they deserve less coverage and exposure”.
In a statement Channel Nine said “all events, highlights, replays, explainers and athlete profile stories from the Milano Cortina Paralympic Winter Games are streamed live and free through 9Now, with a daily 90 minute highlights show hosted by Ellie Cole in Italy screened daily on Channel 9. This is replayed on 9Gem. Viewers can also stream the same content through Stan Sport.”
This means for people without a smart TV or access to a streaming device, the Games have been largely inaccessible aside from the daily highlights show.
ABC Sport contacted NBC for a statement but is yet to receive a response.
Continued Paralympic growth
Just as the coverage of the summer Games has grown in the past 14 years, so too has the hope is that coverage of the winter sports can go the same way.
Woodhall has offered his commentating skills to NBC, and no doubt many Paralympic athletes, retired or otherwise, would love the opportunity to join him in the commentator’s box for either Paralympic Games.
Many winter athletes feel they are missing out on the representation summer Games athletes receive. (Getty Images: Dario Belingheri)
Australia has its own history of tapping into Paralympic talent, including Ellie Cole, who is currently in Milano Cortina presenting for Channel Nine, but this pales in comparison to the summer Games.
What this outrage from Paralympians and audiences around the world tells us is that there is a hunger to watch and support the winter athletes; a recognition that what is now common for a summer Paralympics has to be replicated for the winter Games.
As the Paralympic movement continues to push forward for equitable change for athletes and disabled people in general, perhaps it is the winter Games that have to become the new focus.