With the rise of Covid-19 and the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Games, athletes have had to drastically adjust their planning and training cycles amid national lockdowns. This is especially true for Paralympians who often negotiate multiple institutional environments and funding streams to manage their high performance careers. This is the first conversation in the series “Perspectives on Paralympic Competition and COVID” which will bring together elite athletes, coaches, and activists from the US and Japan to discuss the current status of Paralympic sports. In this event we were joined by Blake Leeper, Team USA track and field Paralympian, silver and bronze medalist in the London 2012 games. He discusses his thoughts about changes to funding sources, practice facilities, and possible futures for international sport after the coronavirus. The conversation was moderated by Fred Ariel Hernandez, PhD (UCLA Disability Studies & NIH-JSPS postdoctoral fellow at Waseda University, Faculty of Sport Sciences). Portions of this interview were used during a larger event later in the series.

View the event recap here: https://dslabs.ucla.edu/international-sport/