“That was all crap, underground.

Atlanta was a disaster. ”Karl Quade gets downright emotional at the thought of the 1996 Paralympics in the United States.

"We were housed in a student dormitory: Everything was dirty - oh, really just crap!"

Quade is the only one who can complain like that.

Because no one else in Germany knows the humble Paralympic roots better than him: They are Quade's sixteenth games.

He took an active part in three summer editions.

And from 1996 on he was Germany's Chef de Mission throughout.

Quade is thus a contemporary witness and contributor to the rise of the Paralympics: from the loveless stepchild of the Olympics in Atlanta to the major event that is already preferred by some because it is more grounded.

The spirit is completely different

These days, the character of this year's Tokyo edition is about as far from Atlanta as the geographic distance between the two cities.

Japan is once again performing a thoroughly stylized and well-organized choreography that tries to harmonize the Corona contradiction: a mass event in an emergency.

But the spirit is completely different: While the Paralympic opening ceremony is at most a tiny dimension smaller, with its hint of Cirque de Soleil charm it is even more homely, fascinating and impressive than its Olympic counterpart. “That is so much better than the Olympic Games!” Shouted someone from Czech television. It seems that Japan dares the cheerfulness it tried to suppress when everyone was still critical of the Olympics.

The gossip animation still fades away in the huge and even emptier area of ​​the national stadium. Yes, the Paralympics have gotten a lot bigger. More than 170 countries are now broadcasting live, TV and stream revenues should now target 30 million dollars, after 24 million in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Nevertheless, the number of cameras and moderators remains much smaller than at the Olympics. At the Olympic opening, the many moderators who set the entry of the nations to music in Spanish, English, Chinese and all sorts of other languages ​​blocked the south side.

Sometimes Japanese law enforcement officers even drove the rebellious media crowd from the stands, which they were not allowed to enter.

At the Paralympic entry, however, it is largely empty, the grandstand can be used as you see fit.

Nevertheless: ARD and ZDF broadcast a new Paralympic TV maximum with 70 hours of live sport.

Even in the land of the powerful US broadcasters, 200 hours are broadcast on TV and a thousand more by stream.

Not to mention Japan's 500 hours of broadcast announced by the home channel NHK.

There have never been so many Paralympics on the screen.

Tokyo is well prepared

Despite the TV optimism and the childish, festive atmosphere of the opening ceremony, the Corona rule structure remains lashed in the Japanese way. But Quade feels good: “Apart from the masks, it's almost the same here. Only when we moved in we only had one day of preparation instead of three. So we didn't get bored. "