Can The Olympic Games Become The Real Olympics?

Every four years millions of people gather worldwide to watch the Olympic Games. This is not only a time for people to come together and show pride in their country, but a time for people to put aside their differences and help end discrimination throughout the world. Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee proclaimed, "the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning, but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering, but fighting well," which has since become the Olympic maxim. Dr. Guttmann, founder of the Paralympic Games, believed that the Paralympic Games were in fact "the real Olympics" because they upheld these ideals better than the Olympic Games. However, I disagree with Dr. Guttmann's

Given the way sport has become a culture unto itself, it is especially relevant to understand the ways in which mediated representations of sport and its players can shape our beliefs about the inclusion of some groups within the culture of sport" (p 137). Although disability sports have become more popular within the last decade, our society is still not comfortable with them because in the past sports were only associated with able-bodied people. This is why the Paralympic Games get way less attention than the Olympic Games. It is not necessarily because of the disabled athletes, but because of society's perception of disability sports. Although disability sports are indeed considered "real sports" in my eyes, the Paralympic Games should not be integrated into the Olympic Games because of the uproar it would cause. I understand that holding the Paralympic Games as a separate event can seem discrimatory and unfair but having both the Paralympics and Olympics occur at one time can be more detrimental to the Paralympic movement than it would be