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They may hear of athletes who deliberately overestimate their lack of function
during classification in order to achieve an unfair advantage. And they
might say: "This is rather familiar."
They may see very little print media, radio and/or television coverage, or
none at all in some countries, and may perceive the Paralympics as relatively
unimportant in relation to other forms of sport.
Or:
They may speak with disgruntled athletes, who, after long careers as athletes
feel that they have been cast adrift and are no longer appreciated by the organisation
or federation for whom they had faithfully performed.
They may say: 'I do see some good but I also see some "not so good".'
Hence, we are left with a number of questions.
1. What informs the Outsider with regard to his or her observations of our
movement?
2. On what does he or she base the interpretation of the images he or she
sees?
3. What sensitises the Outsider to the messages that they receive about the
Paralympic Games?
(b) The Informing View
Let us therefore look through the Informing Lens and develop an appreciation
for factors, which may influence the perception of the Outsider. The Informing
Lens in this case looks into the world of elite able-bodied sports. This view is
very much about the images that are brought to us by the media. Often, they are
extremely negative and may result in a paradigm (analytical model) against which
disability sport is also judged.
It is evident that elite able-bodied sport has become formulated upon a
business and entertainment model. Such a model is focused primarily on
winning and on monetary gain, with little regard for the athlete.
This model is what Peter Mclntosh (Fair Play) called "industrialised" sport. The
values and ethics of the business and entertainment model have intruded into all
levels of sports, including youth sports. The blurring of the boundaries between
sport and athletics, amateur and professional sport, has a great deal to do with the
problems we face in "sport".
Whose view should we take in our evaluation of the state of sport? If we want
to understand the "state of sport", we would do well to consider the opinion of the
unbiased observer looking in. But, first, where does the outsider gain his or her
perspective? The media? And what does the observer hear or see? The "face" of
sport presented to outsiders primarily through the media is not entirely positive.
What the observer sees and is aware of, is the world of industrialised athletics.
The observer reads daily, and hears on the radio:
(1) of stories about professional athletes making a fortune: one American
baseball player signed a recent contract for a quarter of a billion US dollars;
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