After a great summer of 2017 Jeux de la Francophonie and 2015 African Games replays, I’ve decided to celebrate the four year anniversary of the Rio 2016 Summer Paralympic Games by rewatching those replays. I actually really enjoy the Paralympics, sometimes more than the Olympics since the atmosphere is more chill, the sports are different, and bureaucracy is less annoying, so I’m looking forward to reliving Rio 2016. I spent this week studying up on the history of the Paralympic Games, and creating a document full of statistics to enhance my experience.
I started my anniversary celebration tonight with a replay of the opening ceremony. I haven’t watched that many opening ceremonies. I wasn’t the biggest fan of London’s personally (which I watched earlier this week), so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the ceremony. Rio 2016 now holds the title for my favorite Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies. I watched the ceremony four years ago, but I couldn’t remember much, and I remember NBC didn’t exactly show everything. I really enjoyed the artistic segments focusing on the various “disabilities.” I really enjoyed the pair of blind dancers, the moving pictograms (easily one of the biggest “wow!” moments I’ve had watching a ceremony), and Amy Purdy’s Dance with Kuka. Torch relay will always be remembered for the torch drop and recovery. I’ve already voiced my opinion on loving the Olympic cauldron, so that applies here too. Also, hats off to all the Brazilians who gave their federal government what they deserved by booing for a good couple of minutes; that was highly enjoyable since you just never see that at these types of ceremonies. All in all, a good way to spend four hours on a Saturday night. I’ll spend the next couple of weeks/months watching Paralympic replays until winter sports roll around (or until I have to watch replays of winter sports ).