Deaf people at the Paris 2024 Olympics
Renca Dunn, Daily Moth Reporter:
The Paris Olympics 2024 officially starts today. We have a few cool Deaf related facts about this year’s Olympics. We learned through “Expression Australia” Facebook page that mentioned 6 Deaf and Hard of Hearing athletes that will participate in this year’s Olympics. We will show you a screenshot from their page.
[Facebook post by Expression Australia showing six athletes: Mackenzie 'Brickwall' Arnold, Meg Harris, Diksha Dagar, Aaron Small, Emma Meesseman, David Smith. Link to the post with more info and images below at the end of the transcript)]
Renca: This information is based on what we know. If you happen to know more Deaf and Hard of Hearing athletes that will also participate in this year’s Olympics and have not been mentioned in the list, please do comment below!
Now for another cool fact, you know the Olympics is famous for the torch bearers in the beginning. A chosen person would pass along the torch to the next person all the way up until the end to light up the last Olympics flame? For this summer’s Olympics, 11,000 people were chosen to carry and pass along the torch. And guess what- there were Deaf people involved! We saw on Instagram, a Deaf person named Marvel who is from France and he posted on Instagram that he knew four Deaf people would be some of the torch bearers. They’re not the only four but some of the chosen ones. He filmed one of the four Deaf people he knew in the video. We asked him for permission to show his video.
Video clip, Credit: Instagram/amvrle13 (Link below at end of transcript)
We asked Marvel if he could explain why the four Deaf people were chosen for us to get an idea.
Marvel: As you know the Olympics is starting, there are some Deaf people involved as torch bearers. I believe in France as a whole, around 20 to 30 Deaf people were chosen but here in Paris specifically, around 5 or 6 were chosen. I only know four of them: Katia, Ellen, Pascal, and Pascale. The first two work at a bank. It’s called Banque Populaire. They have fought to have a section serving Deaf people only in a bank. I have never seen any other like this in the world. The Olympics committee welcomed those two as torch bearers. The third person, Pascal, has been a customer of the bank for 25 years. So they asked if he wanted to be part of it too. He is also a former World Games of the Deaf athlete and has won medals before. The fourth person is Pascale. She was involved with some kind of game and won by drawing. There were so many people and her name got drawn to be one of the torch bearers. For Banque Populaire, they have a big partnership with the Olympics and contributed a lot of money. So that’s why the Olympics welcomed Bank Populaire and other banks who contributed.
Renca: Thank you Marvel for explaining. So these four are some of the Deaf people that were selected as torch bearers. In general, how are they chosen? There are various reasons. Some are chosen because of their contribution to the community. Some are heroes. And some got their names drawn like the lottery. Well that’s pretty cool to know that there are some Deaf torch bearers! Any of you plan to watch the Summer Olympics? Comment below.
—-
(Update): During the Opening Ceremony, Shaheem Sanchez, an American Deaf dancer and artist, gave a performance.
———
[Sponsored Video from Convo: www.convorelay.com]
———-
Link to Marvel instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C92NMueKbuE/?igsh=MWNjcWJ4dzJiNjRkYg==
Expression Australia: https://www.facebook.com/ExpressionAustralia/posts/pfbid02BowDKb8dsfcU5hp5hVcdETm5Wz6UimsCwxettNoG3PqL4YLpEhJiMXpEN3n8bxnil