The organizers of the Paris Paralympic Games are promising to “shake up the prejudices” surrounding disability. But a revolution is also brewing at the level of the Canadian delegation. For the first time, Paralympic athletes of the maple leaf will receive a financial reward if they win a medal.
“I think that in 2024, we were there. It was really time,” says Aurélie Rivard. For the Quebec swimmer, who is preparing to participate in her fourth Games, the symbol is “much more” important than the cheque. “The message I received for the first time in 14 years was: ‘We value your performance at the same level as that of your fellow Olympians.’”
Since 2008, the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Athlete Excellence Fund has offered $20,000 for a gold medal, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. Sixteen years later, the Canadian Paralympic Committee will be able to award the same rewards to its athletes.
“It took way too long,” says Chantal Petitclerc, Canada’s most decorated Paralympic track and field athlete. “There was a lot of pressure since the last Games, but there was also a huge desire from everyone to find a solution,” she says.
In an interview at Dutyshe particularly remembers the Beijing Games – which took place in 2008, precisely. “I experienced the arrival of this reward [pour les athlètes olympiques] and the fact that I didn’t receive it despite my five gold medals. There was a slightly frustrating, humiliating side to it.”
With his 21 medals, Mme Petitclerc would have won $375,000. “I definitely did the math,” she says with a laugh. “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a little cottage, right there!’”
But for the woman who now sits as an independent senator in Ottawa, the most important thing is “that it’s done.” “When I see the first medal that’s going to be won, it’s going to come to me. Because I’ve talked about it a lot. I’ve never been shy about saying how unacceptable it was. I’m just going to be so happy for our athletes.”
Supporting the new generation
Rather than a financial reward, the legacy of retired athletes is the “pride” of seeing that “all the activism will have made a difference,” says Benoît Huot, a swimmer with 20 medals. “The next generations will be able to benefit from it, and we will celebrate them at their true value.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing in the coming cycles, in the coming decades, the impact it will have on young people, on their confidence, on their sense of belonging,” adds Aurélie Rivard. “For them, it will be the norm to receive the same financial reward.”
The champion couldn’t have been more right. “What do you mean Paralympic athletes didn’t get a bonus?” Bianca Borgella asks on the other end of the line. The 21-year-old sprinter, who is going to experience her first Games, was not aware of this injustice before the announcement of the reward program in January. “I would have been disconcerted to receive a medal,” she says with a laugh.
A Canadian para-athletic hopeful, she says the award would help pay off her student debt. And while the money is nowhere near what an athlete can afford, “a lot of us depend on sponsorships and those medal bonuses to get through our daily lives.”
More “injustices”
Because if the recognition of Paralympic sport has progressed “enormously”, athletes still struggle to attract sponsors, deplores Chantal Petitclerc. “And often, when they get on board, the contracts are less profitable than for an Olympic athlete.”
All of this will depend on media coverage. Here too, “there are still things to do,” according to the senator. “I was an athlete who had great sponsorships. So, I was financially solid.” But not all athletes have “the chance to shine, to be recognized, to be applauded,” emphasizes Benoît Huot, who regrets that Paralympic performances are still not covered enough.
The two Paralympic stars deplore that once again this year, “with equal medals, the coverage [médiatique] will not be equal.” “A magnificent athlete like Aurélie Rivard, she has to win medals to have the same coverage as a single Olympic medal! That’s a difference we have to work on.”