At the Paralympics, women lead the way in a male-dominated and toughest sport, wheelchair rugby

PARIS — When the stadium announcer announced that they were witnessing a historic moment, the Parisian crowd roared and cheered. But the player who made history didn’t notice: Sarah Adam was too busy, gleefully crashing into other players, all men, with her wheelchair and racing across the field to score try after try.

Adam leads the way in the French capital as the first American woman to compete in the toughest of the 22 Paralympic sports: wheelchair rugby.

She was in the starting lineup when Team USA opened its campaign Thursday against regular opponents Canada. Her six tries in 16 intense minutes on the field not only contributed to a 51-48 victory in the group stage match. She believes and hopes she is also opening minds by showing that women can thrive in the co-ed but male-dominated sport.

“There is a place for us on this field,” she said. “We need to have more women on the field and be visible, so people know this is an option for them.”

Other women in wheelchair rugby have also broken barriers. Australia has three women in its 12-player squad in Paris, a record. Denmark, Germany and Japan also have players, leaving hosts France, defending champions Great Britain and Canada as the only teams without one.

The total number of eight women is double that of the wheelchair rugby teams at the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics. But the 88 men in Paris still outnumber the women 11 to 1, leaving plenty of room and appetite for further progress.

“It’s going too slowly,” said Ella Sabljak, who scored a try in 6 1/2 minutes on the field in Australia’s opening match against Great Britain, who took over in the fourth quarter to win 58-55.

“We’re definitely leading the way in Australia,” she said. “Other teams definitely need to catch up and understand and recognise that women add value to the game. You know, we’re not a burden. We’re not different. We’re not difficult. We’re like elite athletes among other elite athletes. So I think people need to change their perspective on what women bring.”

Adam was more optimistic.

“We are gaining visibility,” she said. “That’s the first step that counts.”

At the Paralympic Games, athletes are ranked according to their physical abilities, with a score of 0.5 for the least skilled players, increasing in half-point increments to 3.5 for the most skilled. Together, the four players that teams field at one time cannot have a combined total score of more than 8, meaning that the most skilled players must team up with less skilled ones.

But the sport rewards teams that have women on the field, giving them an extra half-point for every woman they have on the field. Against Canada, that rule allowed the U.S. team to start with Adam and Josh Wheeler, both rated at 2.5, and defender Jeff Butler, who added 0.5, but still left room for captain Chuck Aoki, rated at 3.0. He became the team’s top scorer, contributing 21 tries.

“It levels the playing field,” Adam said of the rule.

Australian Sabljak said: “It increases our chances of participating because the sport has always been very male-dominated.”

“It makes me feel valued,” she added.

Andrea Bundon, who studies female participation in Paralympic sports, says wheelchair rugby uses the rule to encourage teams to seek out and develop female players, who can then give them an added advantage on the field.

“There’s value in having women and men compete together: They can appreciate each other’s athleticism and see that women are capable of competing at that level,” Bundon said in written comments to The Associated Press. She is at the University of British Columbia in Canada, where she specializes in the mechanics and anatomy of human movement.

“The position of women in this sport is still very precarious,” Bundon warned. But as Paralympic sports come under increasing scrutiny, “the fact that these women are having the opportunity to showcase their athleticism and talent is welcome news and should be celebrated – even as we demand better!”

Exceptionally fast and agile on two wheels, skills she honed through intensive training, Adam wove rings around burly Canadian men who pursued her across the field, ramming their armoured chairs into hers whenever they could.

“They’re pretty big,” she said. “I have to be smarter. I have to be strategic and outplay them, because I can’t put my weight on the scale. Me against a 200-pound guy, I’m going to lose.”

“I rely on agility – agility and intelligence.”

Spectator Marleen Sanderse, who competed at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics as a reserve rower for the Netherlands, was impressed.

“She’s amazing,” Sanderse said. “It’s so important to have role models, in sports, in politics, in everything.”