The Rising Phoenix

Spoilers (don’t read ahead if you haven’t seen it)

People have been talking about this documentary for months now, and I can’t believe it has finally aired. The Rising Phoenix is a documentary, not about para athletes, but the history of the Paralympic Movement.

Since 2016 when my family and I found out about para sports, I only wanted to help, to help break down this barrier and to give disabled kids the opportunity to participate in sport alongside their able-bodied peers.

I and so many others believe, it’s not just about us, but it is about how we can make disability sports more accessible for the next generation of disabled people.

The Paralympian’s that were featured in this documentary were:

• Ryle Batt – Wheelchair rugby (Australia)
• Ellie Cole – Swimming (Australia)
• Tatyna McFadden – Athletics (U.S)
• Matt Stutuzman – Archery (U.S)
• Jean-Baptiste Alaize – Athletics (France)
• Ntando Mahlangu – Athletics (South Africa)
• Jonnie Peacock Mbe – Athletics (Great Britain)
• Bebe Vio – Wheelchair fencing (Italy)
• Cui Zhe – Powerlifting (China)

There was also starring Prince Harry, Andrew Parsons (president of the International Paralympic Committee), Eva Loeffler Cbe (daughter of Sir Ludwig Guttmann Cbe) and Xavier Gonzalez (former president of the International Paralympic Committee).

Some things that were revealed in the documentary was a shock to me. Interviewers sat down all 9 Paralympian’s separately and got them to tell their story, about their childhood and their proudest moment in the sport that they are so passionate about today. I knew a little bit about the Australian Paralympians, Ryle Batt and Ellie Cole, as I do follow them on social media, and here about their victories on the TV, but I didn’t know their history, and that is interesting to hear, not from just them, but all the athletes.

There were also some things that shocked me during this documentary. The first one was the relocation of the Paralympics for the games in 1980. From the games originally being located in Russia, they weren’t comfortable with hosting Paralympics there. So, the Olympic Games had it in Russia and the Paralympic Games were hosted in Netherlands. The second thing which shocked me was the lead up to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, but in the end the International Paralympic Committee and Rio Olympic Committee made it a success. I won’t go into detail on it, but you can read more about this here.

This was something that I was waiting for, and I just cannot believe it’s a good documentary. A lot of history, thought, and passion went into this documentary to make it a great one for the eyes of the disability community and the wider community.

The Rising Phoenix is available now on Netflix.

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