Winter Paralympics Inspire as the Curtain Draws Down

The Milan Cortina Winter Paralympics have come to a close.

Their grand finale, the Para ice hockey final between Team USA and Team Canada, drew a crowd of 11,500 enthusiastic spectators.

Seeing the smiles of athletes and volunteers from various countries at the closing ceremony got us thinking once again. In Japan, we too want to have cities host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in this manner. Japan could be a country that can support events like this.

Japan hosted the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games. However, they were actually held in the summer of 2021, due to the spread of COVID-19. They managed to maintain continuity in the history of the Olympics amidst a global pandemic, although without spectators. And the lack of cheers at the competition venues was undeniably a somber experience.

For various reasons, Sapporo City has also abandoned its bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics. Hopefully, Japan can now get back on track and aim to host the Olympic Games again, both in summer and winter.

*American* *Jack Wallace and Canadian Auren Halbert chase the puck. At the Milan Cortina Paralympics hockey final on March 15, 2026. (©Remo Casili/REUTERS)*

Italy's Success and Japan's Modest Medal Haul

At the Milan Games, host country Italy's Paralympians won 16 medals, including seven gold medals. That goes to show that the success of the Olympics depends to a large extent on outstanding performances by athletes from the host country.

Despite sending a record 44 athletes to these Paralympics, the Japanese delegation managed to win only four medals: no gold, three silver and one bronze. This was a drastic decrease from the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, where Japan won seven medals, including four gold medals. It was also the first time in 24 years, since the Salt Lake City Games, that Japan won no gold medals.

The Paralympics are a sporting event. And Paralympians are athletes. While in this case the individual efforts of the athletes are commendable, the team as a whole needs to reflect on its lackluster results. The level of competition in countries like China is clearly rapidly improving.

Kuniko Obinata, head of the Japanese delegation, commented on the fact that Japan didn't win any gold medals.

"We want to take these [disappointing] results to heart," Obinata said. "Our foreign competition obviously got a step on us."

Momoka Muraoka, who won two silver medals in women's Alpine skiing sitting at these Paralympics, was competing in her fourth tournament. Daichi Oguri won a silver medal in a men's snowboarding event while competing in his third tournament. And Takeshi Suzuki, who won a bronze medal in men's Alpine skiing sitting, was competing in his sixth Paralympics.

Importance of Experience and Proficiency

In Paralympic sports, experience and proven proficiency are considered even more important than in Olympic sports. Utilizing the knowledge and experience of reliable veterans to train younger athletes is, therefore, a must.

Furthermore, snowboarding and wheelchair curling teams that arrived at these Paralympics had improved their performance by receiving help from coaches who had experience with conventional Olympic sports. We should also consider the successful example of Keiichi Kimura, the gold medalist in swimming (visually impaired) at the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games in Paris. He asked Natsumi Hoshi, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in the women's 200-meter butterfly, to be his coach.

Hopefully, this kind of vertical and horizontal collaboration, as well as the removal of barriers, will lead to improvements in athletic performance and thereby create new perspectives. Bringing the Games to Japan once again and strengthening athlete development are the two pillars that could ensure a bright future for parasports.