Paralympics preview: Ireland hoping for gold ahead of showcase for ‘best of humanity’

Ireland has a team of 29 athletes, and they look hard-pressed to surpass their performance at the 2016 edition in Rio, where they won four gold, four silver, and three bronze medals

Fireworks spark above the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Picture: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

It’s one of the enduring wonders and great misfortunes of the Paralympic Games that they take continue to take place a few weeks after, rather than before, the Olympics.

Not only does that timing curse them to become an afterthought for so many who have binged on the five-ringed circus for so long, it also pitches them into a battle for eyes and audiences with European soccer leagues which, as we know, leave precious little space for others once they barge back into the room at the end of summer.