Tagged with: disabilities sports wheelchair
Yesterday was the ING New York City Marathon, an event that was canceled last year due to Hurricane Sandy, and an event that carried an enormous weight for crowd security after the tragedy in Boston.
In my opinion, a tragedy has occurred with the NYC marathon….there was paltry coverage of one of the event’s greatest champions, Tatyana McFadden.
The first news piece I saw listed the top finishers for the men (Geoffrey Mutai, 2:08:24) and women (Priscah Jeptoo, 2:25:07) and how these two win $500,000 for the World Marathon Major’s bonus. There were relatively lengthy descriptions of who was where and when during the race, who upset whom and how previous champs fared….then ALL the way at the bottom, almost as an afterthought, by the way, Tatyana McFadden won the women’s wheelchair marathon (no time mentioned…1:59:13) and this is historic because she has swept the world circuit (Boston, London, Chicago, NYC). That’s it…two lines…thanks USA Today for remembering to mention the AMERICAN in the race, who also did a tribute run for Boston and is the first to sweep the world circuit in the same year (Fox news didn’t even bother to mention her, or the male winner (Marcel Hug of Switzerland, 1:40:14) neither did ABC or the Huffington Post…). NBC, who recently upgraded their proposed coverage for the Paralympic games, gave a paltry 2 lines a piece to Hug and McFadden, again, neglecting to give their finishing times…
This bothers me! First, because McFadden was the only American to get a first place finish, and this is American news! Second, because the wheelchair racers are actually FASTER than the ones on foot! Most people don’t know that. And finally, because it completely ignores a group of exceptional athletes’ contribution to their sport by acting like they don’t even exist. What? People in wheelchairs do the major marathon circuit? Who knew? Well thanks to the poor reporting of our major networks, most people probably still don’t.
Just to recap:
Women’s winner – Tatyana McFadden (USA) 1:59:13 – 2nd victory in NYC, completes sweep of major marathons in one year.
Men’s winner- Marcel Hug (Switzerland) 1:40:14
And yes, people who use wheelchairs can do marathons too…and they do them faster than the people on foot…so there.
Why do you think there is limited coverage for people with disabilities?
