Rio 2016 and disability – an analysis of the Sport-For-Development discourse and the legacies for disabled people

摘要

This paper investigates how the legacy of the 2016 Paralympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro, has been discussed on the Facebook page ‘Cidade Olímpica.’ The City Council of Rio De Janeiro manages this page, which uses the Sport-For-Development discourse in order to disclose information about projects that are being developed in the city, and to justify the investments that are made with public money. Furthermore, the main objective of this paper is to identify whether the Sport-For-Development discourse has been used to discuss the legacies for disabled people. This study was developed during the 2014 FIFA World Cup because it was during that period that the Brazilian government released details of some of the main projects for the Olympics and then presented the great planned impacts of these legacies. The season of that mega event was important for the country in order to promote Brazil as a strong brand for tourism and sport for development. Consequentially, this period represented an opportunity to address the Paralympic legacy topic, similar to the entire legacy of the Games and their impacts on society.