Quinn Nancy, Misener Laura
School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Front Sports Act Living. 2023 Mar 15;5:1130703. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2023.1130703. eCollection 2023.
Sport events are often held up as opportunities to showcase excellence and further access to sport participation. The ethos of accessibility has come to the forefront of many events, but none more so than the Commonwealth Games (CG). CG uses the ethos of inclusivity to bring the Commonwealth (CW) community together and utilizes sport to celebrate, uphold and drive its vision and values: Humanity, Destiny, Equality. However there remain significant gaps in participation opportunities and the realization of equality through CG, particularly for lower resource CW nations. CG is also the only global multisport event that integrates athletes with disabilities (para sport athletes), and yet there persist significant constraints to the creation of equitable opportunities for full participation for many para sport athletes. Shalala wrote "How can you effectively achieve integration (during CG), while ensuring the gulf between the best and the rest doesn't become a seismic divide?" We echo Shalala's concerns. Through this review we intend to examine sport classification as exemplary of the opportunities and hindrances for CG to actualize their values of "equality, humanity and destiny" for para sport and athletes, specifically from developing CW nations, and guard against the growing chasm "between the best and the rest". Of significance, we consider, through a human rights lens and the concept of structural violence, the impact of sport classification on the integration of para sport and athletes at CGs, and the future of Commonwealth-wide participation and the integrated model itself.
体育赛事常常被视为展示卓越成就以及进一步促进体育参与的契机。无障碍理念已成为许多赛事的核心，但英联邦运动会（CG）尤为突出。英联邦运动会秉持包容精神，将英联邦（CW）社区凝聚在一起，并利用体育来宣扬、维护和推动其愿景与价值观：人性、命运、平等。然而，在英联邦运动会中，参与机会以及通过该运动会实现平等方面仍存在显著差距，尤其是对于资源较少的英联邦国家而言。英联邦运动会也是唯一一项整合了残疾运动员（残奥运动员）的全球综合性体育赛事，然而，为许多残奥运动员创造充分参与的公平机会仍存在重大限制。沙拉拉写道：“在（英联邦运动会期间）如何有效地实现融合，同时确保顶尖选手与其他选手之间的差距不会变成巨大的鸿沟？”我们认同沙拉拉的担忧。通过本次综述，我们打算审视体育分级情况，以此作为英联邦运动会为残奥运动和运动员，特别是来自英联邦发展中国家的残奥运动和运动员实现其“平等、人性和命运”价值观的机遇与障碍的典型案例，并防范“顶尖选手与其他选手之间日益扩大的差距”。重要的是，我们从人权视角以及结构性暴力概念出发，考量体育分级对残奥运动和运动员在英联邦运动会上融合的影响，以及英联邦范围内参与情况和综合模式本身的未来。
