Sideline Story

Double duty: athletes at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games

As the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games opened, there are two Olympian table tennis players continuing their journey in the French capital as Paralympic athletes. In history, more than a dozen athletes around the world can call themselves both Olympians and Paralympians. Some of the Paralympic sports figures also take part in the Olympics in different roles. In this Sideline Story special, we take a closer look at these athletes with double duties.

Duration:: 9m
Broadcast on:: 30 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to "Sign Line Story", your destination for sports news, analysis, and discussions. Amiens Guam, the 2024 Paralympic Games are underway in Paris, but some of the Olympians are staying in the French capital for the Paralympics. In this special edition of our podcast, we introduce those athletes with double duties, competing both at the Olympics and the Paralympics. (upbeat music) Brazil's Bruno Alexandra and Australia's Melissa Tapper didn't pack after the Olympic journeys were finished earlier this month. Instead, the two table tennis players have stayed in Paris and just a few weeks apart, they're now going to participate in the Paralympics back to back. (speaking in foreign language) 29-year-old Alexandra had her right arm amputated because of a blood clot, but she was a few months old. Ranked 182 in the world, Alexandra didn't play in the women's singles at the Olympics, but she was with Brazil in the team event. Her appearance earned a plussies from the spectators and opponents at the Games. (speaking in foreign language) - I'm so happy to be here at this Olympics. It's very difficult to qualify for the Games, and for all my career, I'm 29 now, and for the last 22 years, I've been chasing the stream of playing in the Olympics. (speaking in foreign language) - Alexandra said to play at the Olympics, there are a few adaptations needed because of her disability. One of the disadvantages she has is that she can't balance her body as well as other able-bodied players, and another is that she is not as quick as most of her opponents. But Alexandra has some advantages, including a serve that has its own unique style because she has to throw the ball with the same hand that she holds the racket. Alexandra says she has experienced a long way to get where she is now. (speaking in foreign language) - Many people have helped me. I come from the town of Clisuma, and I went to Sao Paulo by myself when I was 16. This was a huge effort and sacrifice, not just by me, but by many other people. This is the life of an athlete. We work hard and we don't know if we will make it. And today, I can see that it paid off, and we did things right. I'm so happy to be here, and I thank all the people who helped me. (speaking in foreign language) - Alexandra will play in women's singles at the Paralympics in Paris. Meanwhile, 34-year-old fellow peddler, Tapper, also took part in the team competition with Australia at the Olympics. Tapper has brachial plexus posi, a type of paralysis to her right arm caused during her birth. She sent her serve is what required most adjustments, where she competes at the Olympics because of the issue in her arm, and it's a challenging task. - I think on the side of the actual game, and when we're competing, yeah, the level is probably, again, another step up, another step faster, more speed, power. So normally, we could play one or two shots, and potentially have won that in the Paralympic side, whereas most likely it's coming back for another ball or two in the able-bodied. So it's another challenge for us to try and step another level up, a little bit different to what we may normally be doing. - Tapper, who, like Alexandra, began playing table tennis at a very young age, won a silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago. She says she always feels the Paralympics is special. - I think, yeah, it's probably no secret that the Paralympic movement, I guess, is just something special within itself. The athletes turn up. Obviously, you know, probably the best way to describe it is when I've walked into table tennis halls or any venues at a Paralympic Games, yeah. Supposed to be inside venues with people with disabilities, yet the only thing you notice is everyone's ability to be competing at the highest level in their sport, and the camaraderie that comes with that and just, I guess, the all-round respect and community that Paralympics kind of provides it, yeah. It definitely does have a little bit of a different vibe to what I have experienced anywhere else. - Alexandra and Tapper have joined a select list of athletes who have done the Summer Games double. Among them was Oscar Pistorius, the double NPT sprinter from South Africa, who in January was released from prison after serving nearly nine years for killing his girlfriend. He competed in both events in 2012 in London. Other athletes to have done the double in the past include one other table tennis player, Poland's Natalia Patica, who did it in 2018 Beijing and in 2012 in London. South African swimmer Natalia Dutuite was in both events in Beijing, while Italian archer Paola Fantato did her double in 1996 in Atlanta. And the Olympic and the Paralympic double is beyond just the participating in sports action. Frenchman Naza Zugani takes different roles in the two events. Now he's an acutely vision-impaired parajudo athlete working furiously to be in tip-top fighting shape for the 2024 Paralympic Games. - I will ask, I will be owed. - WDA defended. - Rainy. - During the Paris Olympics, he was a boxing announcer, whipping up the crowds with his baritone voice. - Up to the ring. Egging. Ague. Joshua. - Zugani began his special career after he met a professional boxer announcer in 2017. - I started to bring announcements really as an opportunity, but it was not my project. Big match in when we started in 2017 between Klitschko and Joshua. I discovered Michael Buffett and he said, wow, that is great. This thing is, I would love to do that one day. - That he's able to juggle both jobs is not only a demonstration of his determination, but also of how small adjustments in how things are organized can help ensure that people with disabilities are fully included and not left out at big events like the Olympics. Zugani revealed how he's able to announce at the Olympic boxing matches, which he cannot see himself. A signing edge to Zugani who acts as his eyes has enabled him to use his booming voice to the full at Olympic bouts and live out his ambitions of being a boxing compare. - And then he give me the countdown, say, four, three, two, one, go NASA. And I would say, (speaking in foreign language) This is for the welcoming announcement, for instance. And then he gonna give me, for instance, when we go live, we'll cast it all around the world. We're entering the broadcast at the beginning of the competition. Here we say, so NASA, four, three, two, one, ladies and gentlemen, we are now live around the world. So Paris, are you ready? And then the crowd is screaming and closing. - Zugani says he's proud of having done this job at home hosting Olympics. - I'm suffering from a genetic disease since I was 17 years old. (speaking in foreign language) A decreasing process of the within a sense. And now I can see the, I can easily yellow, right? I can see the blue, I can see the light. I cannot see the details, the faces of people, the smiles, the crowd, our countries represented in the tribunes, in the seats. And when I said to them, "Paris, are you here?" And they react, "Wow, I feel happy because I feel them." (speaking in foreign language) But the main career of Zugani is still about sports action. The 38 year old is about to compete in Judo's J2 category at the Paralympics in Paris. That category includes athletes with acute vision impairments. He said the rigors of juggling training and announcing have helped to steal him for his upcoming bouts. - Doing ring announcement with the crowd, the lights, the people, the noise, the music, the ceremonies, I think it's a kind of a training, mental training to me. So the D-Day on my D-Day in September, I won't be influenced, I won't be emotionally taken by the atmosphere. So this one had the other. And this long range training sessions, long days will help us all to prepare my body. So I think even though I'm exhausted today. - Like Zugani, many Paralympians have broken the barriers and pushed the boundaries on the international sports stage with their double appearance at the Olympics and the Paralympics. - Their stories continue inspiring athletes with disabilities around the world. - I was over saying to the people, maybe I'm visually impaired, maybe God, they take my eyes to give me the voice. What's gonna be worse? Having my eyes without speaking or having my voice without being able to see. ♪ It's an illusion ♪ ♪ Try, try, try, hear what I need now ♪ ♪ Through this conclusion of that night ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]