It was not long ago that Paralympic athletes competed on the world’s stage in front of nearly empty stadiums and venues.

Not anymore. And certainly not in Paris at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.

Tonight another full house of 17,000 spectators will cheer on the Paralympic swimmers in the La Defense Arena.

One of those Paralympic swimmers is English Channel swimmer and five-time Paralympian Pedro Rangel Haro, coached by Marianne Wieland de Alvarez of the Honu Para Swim Team.

One of the outcomes of Rangel’s achievements is a statue that is being currently commissioned and being created of The Zorro of Paralympic Swimming. There will be three statues made of Rangel in Cancun and Guadalajara, his hometown in Mexico, where he lost both his legs at the age of 8.

In Cancún, one statue will be placed in the Mexican Caribbean Sea underwater to help create marine life in the coral reef environment. The second statue will be placed in Guadalajara, and the third statue will be placed in a new 7-hectare, 5-pool, 140-room training center in Playa del Carmen is a city located along the Caribbean Sea in the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico.

Rangel is a waterman through and through. We look forward to cheering him on in his 100m breaststroke this week in Paris – and next year on his Catalina Channel attempt and 20 Bridges Manhattan Island circumnavigation swim.

© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“

A World Open Water Swimming Federation project.