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Quick answer: Stream every event with a Peacock subscription, which includes live coverage, recaps, and Gold Zone
The 2024 Summer Olympics are officially behind us, and Paris resoundingly reminded us why the Olympics are such a special event. It’s a long wait until the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and an even longer wait until LA28, but the next Olympic competition is already here. The Paralympics kicked off on August 28, with the world yet again coming together for two weeks of thrilling competition.
When Are The Paralympics?
The Olympics Opening Ceremony was memorable because it took place on the Seine, rather than inside a stadium. Following the lead of the Olympics, the Paralympics Opening Ceremony kicked off today with an outdoor parade on the historic Champs-Elysées and the Place de la Concorde. According to the Olympic Committee, 184 delegations are present with over 4,000 athletes competing.
The Paralympics have roots in an event created for wounded British WWII veterans in 1948, with the first official Paralympics event taking place in Rome in 1960. The Paralympics have coincided with every Olympics since. In Paris, there will be 22 events. The closing ceremony will take place on September 8.
How To Watch The Paralympics
NBC has carried the Olympics in the United States since 1964, which means NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, is the easiest way to catch all of the action. That includes live coverage, replays, and of course, the return of the Peacock’s beloved Gold Zone.
sign up for peacock
Peacock Premium is available for $7.99/mo, or you can sign up for an annual plan for $79.99 and save a little over $1.00 per month. Students can also sign up for Peacock for $1.99/mo for 12 months with verification through SheerID. If you have cable, USA, NBC, and CNBC will be carrying select events.
What Sports Are In The Paralympics?
The Paralympics consist of sports like Para archery and Blind football, as well as wheelchair versions of fencing, basketball, rugby, and tennis. Every day of competition has medal events, and you can see the event schedule here. Below you can read about every event, with information summarized from the official Olympics site.
Para Archery
Para archery was in the first Paralympic Games and has remained a staple ever since. Athletes can compete standing or sitting, and compete with recurve or compound bows. The W1 class is for athletes with reduced muscle strength or range of movement, while Open is for athletes who have normal arm function but limited mobility. See the full schedule.
Para athletics
Para athletics is the biggest Paralympic event, with athletes with any eligible type of disability competing. Its closest analogue is track and field, and it includes events like running, wheelchair racing, throwing, and jumping. See the full schedule.
Para badminton
Para badminton players compete in pairs or singles, and there are six classes, including four standing classes and two wheelchair. Athletes compete to 21 points per game, with the best-of-three winning the overall match. See the full schedule.
Blind football
Blind football is an adaptation of soccer for athletes with either partial or complete visual impairment. To keep competition fair, all athletes wear eye coverings regardless of impairment level. Each team has four players, plus a partially or fully sighted goalkeeper. The athletes rely on their sense of hearing; the ball makes a rattling sound, and the goalie helps provide direction. Because sound is critical to play, audiences are asked to keep noise to a minimum. See the full schedule
Boccia
Boccia is one of two games that doesn’t have an equivalent in the Olympics. Athletes play individually, or in teams of two or three. Athletes roll a red or blue ball toward a white ball in the field, called the jack. The team that gets the closest wins. There are four categories, depending on the nature of the disability. See the full schedule.
Para canoe
Para canoe is similar to its Olympic counterpart, and there are two types of boats used. There’s a canoe and a va’a, adapted from a type of boat used in Polynesian countries like Tahiti. There will be six kayak and four va’a events, and there are three classifications depending on the athlete’s impairment. See the full schedule.
Para cycling (Road and Track)
Para Cycling consists of road and track cycling. Road cycling includes everything from standard bicycles to tandems, tricycles, and handcycles. The three road events are road race, time trial, and relay. Track cycling includes time trial, individual pursuit, and tandem. See the full road schedule and the full track schedule.
Para equestrian
Para equestrian consists of a dressage competition and was first debuted in the Paralympics in the Atlanta 1996 Summer Games. There are team and individual events, and eligible impairments range from paraplegia to vision impairments. See the full schedule.
Goalball
Goalball is unique to the Paralympics, with no Olympic counterpart. It was originally designed for injured WWII veterans, and men’s goalball debuted in Toronto in 1976. Two teams of three players compete on a volleyball-sized court, with athletes rolling a ball toward a court-wide goal and the other team attempting to block. Competing athletes have visual impairments and wear blackout eye shades to ensure fair play. See the full schedule.
Para judo
Para judo has identical rules to its Olympic equivalent and is for athletes with visual impairments. There are two categories comprising athletes with partial or full blindness. The goal is to throw the opponent to the ground, and each match lasts four minutes. See the full schedule.
Para powerlifting
Para powerlifting consists of one bench press competition, with no divisions by disability. Instead, athletes are divided by weight classification. There are 20 events, 10 for men, and 10 for women. Eligible impairments include Cerebral palsy and Paraplegia. See the full schedule.
Para rowing
Like Olympic rowing, Para rowing consists of 2,000m races. There are individual competitions and races in teams of two and four. Eligible impairments include Orthopaedic impairments, paraplegia, quadriplegia, hemiplegia, cerebral palsy, neurological disabilities, and vision impairments. See the full schedule.
Shooting Para sport
Shooting Para sport consists of rifle and pistol events. Events are broken into standing, kneeling, or prone positions, with accommodations for wheelchair users. In the final, competitors with the lowest scores are eliminated until only two remain. See the full schedule.
Sitting volleyball
In sitting volleyball, athletes sit on the floor on a smaller court with a lower net and use their arms to move around the court. Each side has six players, and matches are played to 25 points in a best-of-five format. The close-to-the-ground play makes for a fast-paced game. See the full schedule.
Para swimming
Para swimming consists of breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, freestyle, and medley. Competition is open to all kinds of impairments, with classifications broken down by physical, visual, or intellectual impairment. See the full schedule.
Para table tennis
Para table tennis is unique in that it predates its Olympic counterpart, first appearing in Rome in 1960. There are 11 classifications depending on impairment level, and athletes compete to 11 points over five sets. See the full schedule.
Para taekwondo
Para taekwondo is only the second contact sport in the Paralympics, after judo. Competitions consist of one round, with points awarded to hits on the torso. The sport is designed for competitors with upper limb impairments, and there are five weight categories for men and five for women. See the full schedule.
Para triathlon
In para triathlon, athletes swim 750m, cycle 20km, and run 5km, half the distance of an Olympic triathlon race. There are several classes, including a seated class, in which athletes race with a handcycle and a racing wheelchair for the cycling and running components. Vision-impaired athletes compete with a guide, while standing athletes can use prosthetic legs. See the full schedule.
Wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball players compete on a court that’s the same size as its Olympic counterpart, including a hoop of the same height. Athletes dribble by bouncing or passing the ball after every two pushes of the wheelchair. See the full schedule.
Wheelchair fencing
Like Olympic fencing, wheelchair fencing consists of foil, épée, and sabre disciplines. The games are fast-moving because fencers cannot retreat or advance. Instead, the wheelchair is in a stationary position. Sensors keep track of the score, and depending on the discipline, fencers wear an apron over their legs to ensure off-target attacks aren’t counted. See the full schedule.
Wheelchair rugby
To get a sense of how intense wheelchair rugby is, consider the other name it’s known by: murderball. Athletes compete using a modified volleyball, rather than the traditional oblong rugby ball, and competitors’ wheelchairs frequently collide. Wheelchair rugby draws elements of basketball, rugby, and handball. The game is unique in that teams can be mixed-gender. See the full schedule.
Wheelchair tennis
Wheelchair tennis made its Paralympics debut in Barcelona in 1992. The rules are very similar to Olympic tennis, with the exception that the ball can bounce twice before being returned. Otherwise, the tennis court and net are the same dimensions. There are two classifications; Quad athletes have upper and lower body impairments, while Open athletes have full upper body mobility. See the full schedule.
