Paralympic Games: OMEGA takes up its role as Official Timekeeper

A few days after the end of the 329 events at the Paris Olympic Games, it was the turn of the Paralympic events to call on the expertise of the watchmaking house. 4,400 athletes will compete in 22 disciplines, under the watchful eye of 3.4 million spectators. Official timekeeper of the Olympic Games since 1932, the watchmaking house has since become a worldwide partner to a wide range of sports, including athletics, swimming, sailing, golf and bobsleigh.

Despite the sporting diversity and numerous athletic categories of the Paralympic Games, OMEGA uses exactly the same equipment as for the Olympic Games: the photo-finish camera, the swimming touch plates and the Quantum Timer, to name but the most emblematic. Other technological innovations, however, will be required for certain events, such as the electronic starter pistol connected to loudspeakers for the start of the races, or the light-beam photoelectric cells for crossing the finish line.

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On the athlete side, OMEGA will be supporting four paralympic athletes: Beatrice Vio - frequently referred to as “Bebe Vio” - is a 27-year-old Italian disabled fencer who has become a star in her country. She started fencing when she was just five years old. Then, after an enforced break due to meningitis, she resumed the sport in its wheelchair version in 2010. She won gold and bronze at Rio 2016, then gold and silver at Tokyo 2020.

Frenchman Alexis Hanquinquant, a right leg amputee, will be competing in the men's para-triathlon category. Born in 1985, he is a multiple French (2010), European and World Paratriathlon Champion. Before becoming a paratriathlete following an accident on a building site, Alexis was a keen basketball player and full-contact boxer. He was a gold medallist at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

The 35-year-old Ukrainian Oksana Masters is a rower, cyclist, biathlete and American disabled cross-country skier. A 17-time Paralympic medalist, including seven gold medals, she will be defending her two Para-cycling road titles won in Tokyo in 2020 in Clichy-sous-Bois. She is severely handicapped, depriving her of her legs and some of her organs, following the accident at the Chernobyl power plant, which hit her violently when she was just a child.

And finally, Marcel Hug, nicknamed “Swiss Silver Bullet”, is one of the most famous Paralympic athletes. Born in 1986 in Pfyn, Switzerland, with a spina bifida (open back), he is obliged to use a wheelchair. He took part in his first wheelchair race at the age of 10 and won his first two bronze medals at the Athens Paralympic Games at just 18. His career really took off in 2020 when he won four gold medals at the Tokyo Games. He is expected to compete in several disciplines this year: 800m, 1500m, 5000m and marathon.

After the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, OMEGA will bring out the chronometers again in two years' time for the Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina, then in 2028 in Los Angeles and finally in Brisbane in 2032, which will mark 100 years of the brand timekeeping.