Paralympics president is ‘excited’ by support for the Games with a year to go

The president of the International Paralympic Committee says he’s encouraged by the level of support for the Paralympics with a year to go until the Winter Games in Italy.

IPC President Andrew Parsons is hopeful of building on a trend of increased support for the Winter Paralympics over recent editions.

“We are very excited for these games, and especially with the level of support that we are seeing, the big jump that we had from Pyeongchang (in 2018) to Beijing (in 2022), and then what we have been seeing in the last few seasons,” Parsons told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

Italy’s mountain scenery will be one of the most memorable aspects of the Milan-Cortina Paralympics, Parsons predicted.

“I think the iconic image of the games would be the Dolomites and that, to me, is a given,” Parsons said. “It will be one of the most beautiful Paralympic Winter Games when it comes to the scenery or the settings that we are going to see.”

After a transport strike last month disrupted plans to invite local schoolchildren to an Olympic test event in Milan, concerns have been raised over the potential impact on the Games themselves.

Parsons says he’s confident that strikes won’t affect the Paralympics.

“The regions, the cities and the national government, they are aware of situations like that,” Parsons said. “The planning and the measures are going to be taken to avoid that during Games time.”