27 Portuguese athletes at the Paris Paralympics
For the first time ever, a portuguese TV network (SIC) will have a visually impaired reporter covering the event.
With 94 medals won in the 11 previous games, Portugal will have 27 athletes at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
It’s its second smallest delegation ever, only smaller than that of Seoul 1988, when Portugal was represented by 13 athletes, who won 14 medals.
After competing in eight sports at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Portugal will reach a record 10 sports in France, making its debut in triathlon and powerlifting, and repeating its participation in athletics, badminton, boccia, canoeing, cycling, judo, swimming, and shooting.
Three years ago, after the Games were postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Portugal had its least medal-winning participation in Tokyo since 1972, with two podium finishes, two bronze medals, and 23 diplomas.
Over the course of 12 participations, 11 of which were consecutive, Portugal won 94 medals at the Paralympic Games, 25 gold, 30 silver, and 39 bronze.
TV first
For the first time ever, a Portuguese television channel, SIC, will have live reports made by a visually impaired journalist.
Tomás Delfim came from the digital newspaper ‘Mensagem de Lisboa’ to work as a sound engineer on the podcasts of the Expresso newspaper.
He has been a journalist at Expresso since January and now he's going to the Paralympics in Paris, one of the most important events in the world of sport.
‘My expectations are, I believe, very similar to those of any other journalist who is doing something for the first time: I always want it to go well, although it can always go badly,’ he said.
‘However, I know how to distance myself from that and I know that what I'm doing there isn’t about me, it’s about Portugal, about Portuguese athletes,’ he added.
Apart from journalism, music seems to be an escape from everything else, especially when she plays the piano.
‘I learnt in a more didactic way, just by listening and liking the sound. It also brings me a bit of peace to relax a little. I make a lot of use of the piano in the newsroom as the one at home is just a keyboard,’ she confessed.