Mark Copeland at the PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games in South Korea

Mark Copeland of Mark Copeland Lawyers, IR Global’s Commercial and Real Estate Member in New Zealand, recently attended the PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games in South Korea. Mark is the Chairman of the Legal and Ethics Committee of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and is responsible for dealing with all formal ethics matters within Paralympic sport as well as chairing the Appeals Adjudication Panel for athlete impairment classifications. Mark is shown here with the Mascot for the Paralympic Games (Mark has the glasses!) and also with Andrew Parsons, the IPC President.

According to Mark these Winter Paralympic Games were the best to-date: more nations won winter Paralympic Medals than ever before, more nations won a gold medal than ever before and more athletes competed in each sport than ever before. I have seen a lot of Paralympic sport, but to see leg and arm amputees snowboarding at a world class level, including large jumps, just blew me away – it has taken disabled sport to whole new level. The people of South Korea staged a fabulous Winter Games, and should rightly be proud of themselves.