Do medals count? They certainly do, but perhaps what counts more is what these Paralympics that end today in Paris represent in common thinking, in the culture of a society that accepts, welcomes and respects, in the understanding of how sport, any sport without distinction, is the most formidable instrument of “propaganda”, the most direct way to tell life, the attachment to life, the desire not to give up, to go on despite everything, as he often repeats Alex Zanardi “with what is left…”. That said, these seventeenth Paralympics for Italy will remain unforgettable from many points of view, starting with the number of medals won, 71, two more than in Tokyo 2020. A total of 24 golds were won, 10 more than Japan and an improvement in the overall medal table of three positions, from ninth to sixth place even though, in reality, the PRC was present in Tokyo (i.e. the Russian team without a flag). But the Italy that showed up in Paris was also the largest delegation ever to take part in a Paralympics: 141 athletes who competed in 17 disciplines. In Tokyo 2020 there were 15. Eleven disciplines won medals: swimming, athletics, cycling, table tennis, archery, fencing, triathlon, equestrianism, weightlifting, taekwondo, shooting. Carrying the flag during the ceremony were the two youngest athletes to have obtained fourth place: Domiziana Mecenate from swimming and Ndiaga Dieng from athletics. “I have always been convinced that in the international Paralympic world there are no revolutions but long processes of contamination that start from afar – explains the president of the Paralympic committee Luca Pancalli– There is much talk about the importance of the London 2012 Paralympic Games as the watershed between before and after, but London was fundamental for us for the many hours of live broadcasting on Rai. Without the presence of the public broadcaster, some iconic images of those Games, I am thinking, for example, of those of Alex Zanardi, would not exist. I am convinced that the Games are among the greatest transformative agents of civil society. We are changing society. I think of those who are passionate about the Paralympics – and there are truly many – they will certainly be better people because they are able to accept every type of diversity…”. Diversity that years ago was underlined by the rhetoric of the stories of the feats of para-athletes that underlined the difference with “normal” sport. Which instead does not exist because there is no “normal” sport and other sports. There is only one sport and it is valid for everyone because the sacrifices, the renunciations, the commitment, the victories, the defeats, the joys and the disappointments are the same. He explains it well Simone Barlaam, Today one of the faces of the global Paralympic movement: “I am not a parathlete. I am an athlete…”