The closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic games in early August gave way to another one of sport’s most famous competitions: the Paralympic Games.
The first version of the Paralympics was held in 1960, when 400 athletes with mobility, hearing, visual, or other types of impairments convened in Rome to represent 23 countries. The Games have taken place every four years since, according to the International Paralympic Committee.
Since 1992, the competitions have also been held in the same cities and venues as the Olympics. Therefore, the 2024 Paralympic Games are being held in Paris.
Beyond classifying athletes within their disciplines, the Games also consider varying levels of ability. Athletes go through the classification process before the competitions start, during which they are allocated a sport class in accordance with the degree and nature of their eligible impairments. In turn, there is no single classification system for all sports, which is why they all have their own system.
The following chart shows the classifications that are featured in this article:
Latin America Reports will be summarizing the main triumphs for the region in the Paris 2024 Paralympics every week. The information has been compiled directly from the Paralympics’ official website.
Argentina
Argentina has participated in every edition of the Paralympic Games, and in Paris 2024 the country is represented by 68 athletes.
On August 30, Antonella Ruíz Díaz won the country’s first medal at the Paralympics, taking home the bronze in the Women’s Shot Put F41 category with a distance of 9.58 meters, just under athletes from Tunisia and Uzbekistan.
Image Source: Para Deportes via X.
Later in the day, Juan Samorano defeated Uzbekistan with a score of 6-5 in the Men’s Taekwondo 70kg K44 category, earning the country’s second bronze medal in Paris 2024.
On August 31, athlete Inaki Basiloff earned Argentina’s first gold at the Paralympics in the Men’s 200m S7 swimming category, with a time of 2:29.81.
Other notable achievements from Argentinian athletes include Elizabeth Noriega’s fourth place at the Women’s 200m S5 Freestyle Swimming Heats with a time of 3:21.72, and Araceli Rotela’s second place at the Women’s 200m T36 athletics Round 1- Heat 1 with a time of 30.08.
Brazil
At the last Paralympic Games of Tokyo 2020, Brazil achieved a Paralympic record, winning 22 gold medals. During this years’ edition, the country sits fourth at the medal table with 13 gold, eight silver and 19 bronze medals, just under the United States and Great Britain.
Their first gold was secured on the first day of the competition, on August 29, by athlete Gabriel Araújo at the Men’s 100m backstroke S2 swimming category. Araújo finished with a time of 1:53.67.
Image Source: Paris2024 via X.
Similarly, the country’s first silver was earned by Phelipe Rordigues in Men’s 50m S10 swimming with a time of 23.54, and its first bronze was secured by Gabriel Bandeira in Men’s 100m Butterfly S14 swimming. By the end of the first day, Brazil had already secured one gold, one silver and one bronze.
On August 30, however, the medals kept coming. Ana Carolina Silva de Moura won gold at the Women’s 65kg K44 taekwondo discipline, defeating France with a score of 13-7. Petrúcio Ferreira also scored gold in the Men’s 100m T47 final with a time of 10.68, as did Ricardo Gomes de Mendoça at the Men’s 100m T37 athletics final.
In Women’s Club Throw F32, Giovanna Gonçalves won bronze, as did the Mixed 4×50 Freestyle Relay team, Talisson Glock in the Men’s 200m S6 swimming category, and Silvana Fernandes in the Women’s 57kg K44 taekwondo discipline.
To finish the first day, Brazil won gold again in the Men’s 5000m T11 athletics final with representation from Júlio Agripino.
The next day, Fernanda Yara da Silva scored gold at the Women’s 400m T47 athletics final, and Clara Augusto joined her in the podium by earning bronze in the same discipline.
Image Source: Para Athletics via X.
Gabriel Araújo won gold again at the Men’s 50m backstroke S2 swimming discipline, and Wendell Belarmino scored silver in Men’s 50m freestyle S11 swimming. Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago also won gold in Women’s 100m backstroke S12 swimming.
Thalita Simplicio earned silver in the Women’s 400m T11 athletics final with a time of 57.21, and bronze was scored by both Cicero Lins Nobre in Men’s Javelin Throw F57 and Joeferson Marinho de Oliveira in Men’s 100m T12 athletics.
On September 1, Brazil secured four more bronze medals: Andre Rocha in the Men’s Discus Throw F52 final, the team in the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay S14 swimming discipline, Lidia Vieira in Women’s 150m medley S4 and Alexandre Galgani in Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone S2.
Chile
Chile is currently placed 63 in the medal table, with three bronze medals all earned by the same swimmer; Alberto Abarza.
Image Source: Swim Chile.
Abarza secured his first bronze on August 29 in the Men’s 100m backstroke S2 final, just under Brazil’s Gabriel Araújo and Vladimir Danilenko, who competes in the Neutral Paralympics Committee delegation.
Known as “rocket man,” he also scored gold in the Men’s 50m Backstroke S2 swimming discipline on August 31.
Other notable performances include the Chilean Mixed Table Tennis Doubles team, who defeated Australia 3-0 on August 29, as well as the Men’s Doubles team, who defeated Spain 3-0 in the round of 16.
Colombia
Colombia sits 18th on the medal table, with three gold, three silver and four bronze medals at Paris 2024.
The country’s first medal was secured by Nelson Crispín, who scored silver in the Men’s 100m medley swimming S6 with a time of 2:38.08, just over Brazil’s Talisson Glock. On the same day, Erica Castaño won gold in the Women’s Discus Throw F55 final.
Similarly, José Lemos earned gold in the Men’s Javelin Throw F38 discipline, with a distance of 63.81 meters. Luis Fernando Lucumí finished fifth in the same discipline with a distance of 50.32 meters.
Image Source: Maria Paula Rodríguez via X.
The first bronze was won by Carlos Serrano in the Men’s 100m Breastroke swimming S7 discipline, followed by Leidy Chica’s in the Women’s Boccia BC4 discipline.
Karen Palomeque also scored gold in the Women’s 100m athletics T38 with a time of 12.26, and Darian Jiménez earned bronze in the same discipline with a time of 12.53. Juan Alejandro Campas Sánchez also won bronze in the Men’s 100m athletics T38 final.
Image Source: Maria Paula Rodríguez via X.
Cuba
Image Source: Cuban Embassy in the US via X.
Ranked 28 in the medal table, Cuba currently has two gold and one silver medal. The first one, silver, was earned by Yamel Luis Vives in the Men’s 100m athletics T44 discipline on September 1.
Other notable performances from the first week of the Paralympics include Raciel González’ sixth place in the Men’s 100m T47 final with a time of 10.93, and Alexander Reyna’s fourth place in the Men’s 10m air pistol SH1 discipline.
Ecuador
Currently placed 65 in the medal table with one bronze medal, Ecuador’s win came on September 1 due to athlete Poleth Mendes in the Women’s Shot Put F20 athletics discipline.
Other notable performances include Sixto Moreta’s fourth place in the Men’s 5000m T13 final, and Jimmy Caicedo’s fifth place in the Men’s 5000m T11 final.
Mexico
Ranked 34 in the medal table, Mexico has won one gold, three silver and five bronze medals.
The first silver was won by Haidee Aceves in the Women’s 100m Backstroke S2 final on August 29. The country’s Fabiola Ramirez came in sixth in the same discipline.
Mexico also scored bronze through Rosa María Guerrero in the Women’s Discus Throw F55 final on August 30, and with representation from Ángel de Jesús Camacho in the Men’s 100m Freestyle S4 discipline.
Image Source: México en Paris 2024 via X.
Juan García also secured another bronze against Japan in the Men’s 70kg K44 Taekwondo discipline, with a final score of 5-3.
On August 31, Mexico continued securing Paralympic medals. Luis Nájera won silver in Men’s 80kg Taekwondo K44, as did Haidee Aceves in the Women’s 50m Backstroke S2 final.
Camacho won a second medal by scoring bronze in the Men’s 150m medley S4 discipline, as did Osiris Machado in Women’s Discus Throw F64, both on September 1.
Peru
Peru is currently ranked 46 in the medal table with one gold medal, earned by Angélica Espinoza on August 29 in the Women’s 47kg K44 Taekwondo discipline against Uzbekistan.
Image Source: Italo Villafuerte via X.
Other notable performances include Rodrigo Santillan’s third place in the 100m Backstroke S2 swimming heats with a time of 2:16.35, Rosbil Guillén’s sixth place in the Men’s 5000m athletics T11 final, and Neri Roxana Mamani’s third place in the Women’s 1500 athletics T11 Round 1.
Venezuela
Image Source: Jose Grasso via X.
Venezuela’s first medal in Paris 2024 was earned by Lisbeli Vera, who scored silver in the Women’s 400m athletics T47 final on August 31.
On September 1, Enderson Santos won the country’s first gold at this year’s Paralympic Games in the Men’s 400m athletics T11 final, with a time of 50.58. He had previously scored second place in the semifinals with a time of 51.71.
Other notable performances include Roberto Quijada’s win against Czechia in the Men’s Class-3 Table Tennis Singles round of 32 match on September 1, as well as Irene Suarez’ fourth place in the Women’s 1500m T11 athletics round 1 on the same day.
Other countries
While the competition is still ongoing for another week, Latin American delegations have gotten great praise.
Costa Rica’s Sherman Guity scored first in round one of the Men’s 100m T64 athletics discipline with a score of 10.72 on September 1 and went on to compete in the finals on September 2. Similarly, El Salvador’s Herbert Aceituno is set to compete in the Men’s 59kg PWL powerlifting final on September 5.
