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After competing in the summer Paralympics in 2024 (along with earlier games), Hunter Woodhall knows what the full experience should be like, and he’s taking issue with the way this year’s Winter Paralympics have been going so far. Now that he’s tuned in to see some of the incredible talents that these inspiring athletes have, he realized that the games aren’t getting the coverage they deserve, and he’s not the only one out there who is getting heated about it.
Hunter is a track and field Paralympian.
Hunter has competed with Team USA in 2016, 2020, and 2024, winning one gold medal, one silver medal, and three bronze medals in that time, which is a truly incredible record. After he was born with fibular hemimelia, his legs didn’t develop properly, so surgery has left the 27-year-old a double amputee, not that he’s ever let that stop him from achieving his dreams.
Since his sport is one that takes place during the summer games, he’s had plenty of time to tune in to this year’s Winter Paralympics, and so far, he’s not impressed with what he’s seen — though that his nothing to do with his fellow athletes at all.
Now, he’s speaking out about this year’s Winter games.
@hunterwoodhall As if people with disabilities don’t have enough to deal with. My experience competing in the summer games has been incredible. The support and excitement is palpable, this on the other hand was very disappointing.
♬ original sound – Hunter Woodhall
In a video that Hunter shared on TikTok earlier this week, he said that after watching the athletes compete in skiing (including one who did not have either arm) not only was he in awe of them, but he also realized that they were running into a problem that he didn’t face during the summer games.
“Tell me how, somehow, for the para snowboarding, they just forgot to bring a crew to film it at the Paralympics,” he said. “And some of the other events didn’t even have commenting.”
He continued, “It’s like y’all are not even trying when these disabled people deal with enough on a daily basis, they don’t need to be worried about who’s gonna film their thing so their family and friends can watch. This is like, some of the craziest stuff that humans will ever do and we can’t even put a crew there to film it.”
So many people are angry right along with him.
Hunter definitely isn’t the only one getting heated about the media coverage (or lack thereof) around the Paralympics, and so many people commented on his video in agreement with him.
“It’s so frustrating that the Paralymics doesn’t get the same coverage! The athletes are amazing and deserve equal coverage!” one person wrote.
Another said, “The coverage has been SO disappointing. I’m always more excited for the Paralympics! The athletes are so inspiring it’s insane. I wish I could watch them doing the thing they trained their WHOLE lives for!”
He’s right — these athletes do deserve better. It’s not easy to live with a life altering disability, and it’s even harder to overcome that disability and become one of the best in the world at your sport. It seems like the least we could do is make sure that their big moments are covered properly.
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