DENVER — The Paralympics kicked off in Paris on Wednesday, and for the first time in Paralympic Games history, there will be live coverage for all 22 sports.
The games run from Wednesday through Sept. 8. As many as 4,400 athletes from around the world will be competing, including a few from Colorado.
A lot of eyes will be on one particular Colorado athlete, Jataya Taylor. Taylor will make her Paralympic debut in wheelchair fencing. She trains in Colorado at the Denver Fencing Center.
"She’s been on this upward trajectory and we’re going to see what happens at the end and it’s going to be super exciting," one of her coaches, Nathan Anderson, said.
Anderson is the founder of the Denver Fencing Center and received a grant from the U.S. Olympic Committee to start a wheelchair fencing program in Denver. The goal of the program was to get an athlete qualified for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, so they're ahead of schedule.
"It’s absolutely insane, but we’re happy to have her, happy that she went on this journey," Anderson said of Taylor. "We want to have the ability for people with disabilities to have the same athletic opportunities that the able-bodied people have, so that's really important."
This year, the same athletic opportunities means more coverage. The International Paralympic Committee announced for the first time, 8 billion people will have the opportunity to watch all 22 games, the most Paralympic coverage in the Games' history.
"We've been waiting for this, that these athletes get their due and they're getting the same coverage, the same representation that the able-bodied people get," Anderson said.
The big improvement in coverage is not lost on Paralympian Kyle Coon.
Coon calls Colorado home and will compete in the triathlon event in a few days. He competed in Tokyo, but fell 40 seconds short of a medal.
Coon said this kind of coverage can be a game changer.
"People can't learn or care about a sport until they see it. Back in 2016 when I first started hearing or even considering the Paralympics, you couldn't find any coverage anywhere," he said.
"We’re not here to participate. We’re here to compete, and we’re here to compete at the highest level, and so that is really, really exciting that people now get to witness that," he said.
Much of the U.S. coverage of the games will be on Peacock as well as a few subchannels. Both Anderson and Coon hope the added coverage will motivate the next generation.
"I would love nothing else to inspire some younger athlete that comes along and makes me look like a bumbling old fool," Coon joked.
"If a kid can see that they have an opportunity to do a sport, it's incredible to have that opportunity and to be able to see that possibility," Anderson said.
Anderson plans to travel to Paris to watch Taylor compete next week. Taylor's events will begin on Tuesday, while Coon's triathlon will take place on Sunday.