Winter Paralympic Sports: Scientific Blind Spots and Ethical Challenges between Competition and Social Representation.
Keywords:
winter paralympics sports, elite athletes, disability and competition, social representation, scientific grey areaAbstract
Despite the global visibility of the Winter Paralympic Games, scientific literature addressing its disciplines, training processes, and psychological dimensions remains scarce. This article offers a critical overview of existing research, highlighting the scientific blind spots that still affect the study of elite-level winter parasport. The analysis reveals an imbalance between the symbolic-ethical narrative surrounding parasport and its competitive reality, with significant cultural and scientific implications with implications on a cultural and scientific level, so much so that a clear scarcity of data and scientific studies emerges in the literature.
Recent studies (Bentzen et al., 2025; Öner, 2023) stress the urgent need for increased scientific focus on mental health, athletic identity, and the specific needs of elite-level Paralympic athletes. A paradigm shift is advocated, aimed at fully acknowledging the elite and professional status of Paralympic athletes.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Chiara Sergenti, Cecilia Camellini
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