Jason Smyth ran his way to plenty of Paralympic success. The Irish sprinter holds world records in the 100- and 200-metre races in Para athletics in his T13 classification. 

Smyth claimed six Paralympic golds between Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2020. While he has closed the curtain on his career as an athlete, Smyth is still hyped for the Paris 2024 Paralympics, which open on 28 August.

He has experienced the growth and changes in Para sport during his time at the top. Smyth, who took up Para sport in 2005, points to London 2012 as the turning point where the Paralympic Movement made its biggest leap.

“(London 2012) did a huge amount on changing people's perceptions,” Smyth said, adding that people focused more on the ability of Para athletes, instead of their disability," said Smyth, who retired in 2023 after a career that spanned three decades and four Paralympic Games.

“The whole UK got behind the Paralympic Movement.”

Smyth said he noticed the media coverage helped spread awareness of Para sport at London 2012.

“If you don't have that, then you can’t change people's perceptions. You can't have role models that people can look at and aspire to be. I think even in awareness around certain disabilities as well,” Smyth said. “(The media) did a huge amount to start that change, I think in line with that, society moved a lot to be more inclusive and open across everything.”

Smyth says the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games can offer another great opportunity to push the growth of Para sport. Fans will return to the stands in the French capital, after the Tokyo 2020 Games were held without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The six-time Paralympic champion believes spectators are what make the Paralympics so special. The crowds at the London 2012 Games are ingrained in his memory and hopes that athletes in Paris will enjoy competing in front of fans.

“We had full stadiums (in London). You knew people were there and wanted to be there and were there to enjoy sport. You got a sense that they had, in the buildup, built such a huge hype around the Games,” Smyth recalled.

Smyth remembers the roars of the large crowds and is excited to experience a similar vibe in a few weeks’ time, even if he will not be streaking towards the finish line this time around. 

⚡LEGEND⚡

3️⃣ decades in the sport
4️⃣ @Paralympics
6️⃣ Paralympic titles
8️⃣ gold medals at the World Championships
♾️ memories

🇮🇪 @smyth_jason announced his retirement from #ParaAthletics in March.

📸 Sportsfile@ParalympicsIRE | @ParaSport pic.twitter.com/wKkn87hDmX

— #ParaAthletics (@ParaAthletics) June 1, 2023

Journey to Paralympic glory

The Irish sprinter is one of the fastest Paralympians of all time. He showed off his speed once again, winning the 100m race at Tokyo 2020 by a mere one-hundredth of a second. Another fond memory for the runner. 

“A more of a personal one was Tokyo, which I only walked by 100th of a second. But it was just the nature I had such a difficult year of injuries, doubts and uncertainties and the nature of getting it together where I needed to in that moment. For me was my greatest race even though it wasn't the fastest race, but it was just overcoming adversity that nobody really sees,” Smyth said. 

The journey to make the Paralympics is often harder than the Games themselves. All of the hurdles to reach the pinnacle of the sport can be as formidable as racing for gold.

“People don't see the journey. You may see snippets of it,” he said. “You see this one moment for let's say in my situation, 10 seconds. It's in the stadium. There are people watching, they are all ‘Oh, I'd love to be doing that. I wish I could do that.’ 

“But what everybody doesn't see is everything you have to do to get to that point, and the reality is most people wouldn't be willing to make the sacrifices and have the discipline. Day in day out for four years - it's thousands and thousands of hours of training for a 10 second rib. 

“It's also the way you live your life. It's how you're eating. It's how you're sleeping. It's every single choice you make on a daily basis, that has a little step towards whatever that final outcome is,” Smyth added. 

All those sacrifices can lead to quite the tasty reward. A gold medal brings expected gratification but can also grow a Paralympian’s impact on their sport and world around them.

🏃🏼From the track to the dance floor 🕺🏼

Jason Smyth 🇮🇪 has been announced as one of the participants of Dancing with the Stars Ireland!

💬"Let's hope sprinting and the Quickstep have some similarities!"

- @smyth_jason #ParaAthletics @ParalympicsIRE @Paralympics @DWTSIRL pic.twitter.com/LxwPq69h4G

— #ParaAthletics (@ParaAthletics) December 8, 2023

Beyond the Paralympic Games

Smyth for instance translated his success on the track to success in the ballroom. He won Ireland’s “Dancing with the Stars” reality dance competition in 2023. The Para athletics legend now wants to leave a lasting legacy in his sport and beyond reality TV stardom. 

“I just generally want to work around changing society's perceptions of someone with my situation of visual impairment or any impairments, what they can do,” he said. “I have more time now to do a little bit more around that and in a different way, not just on the track. It is somebody else's turn to do it on the track,” Smyth said. 

It can be hard to slow down life when you are a world-class sprinter. Smyth will finally have a moment to embrace his own success and enjoy ground-breaking times from the stands this time around. 

It will be a refreshing perspective for the man that sometimes overlooked his own achievements along the way. 

“The minute you kind of stop and pause you can get distracted, and I was always looking at what's next and trying to improve. So, I never really stopped and probably fully appreciated,” Smyth said.  "If I'm honest and I've probably been able to do that a bit more now that I'm reflecting back and realise, you know how fortunate I was and how an incredible journey it was and actually sometimes the sad thing is, you'll never replace those moments in your life."