Paralympics body shows race from perspective of world's fastest blind sprinter

A new campaign from the International Paralympic Committee gives viewers a first-person taste of what it is like to run a 100-metres race as a vision-impaired sprinter.

“Wait for the greats” is the first campaign created by Adam & Eve/DDB for the IPC since winning the business in 2019. It aims to continue the momentum and keep the spotlight on Paralympic athletes despite the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games being postponed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ad shows the Games from the perspective of David Brown, the world’s fastest fully blind sprinter, who runs 100 metres in less than 11 seconds. Brown was a competitor at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympics.

For 17 seconds, viewers experience the world as Brown did during the men’s 100 metres T11 final in Rio. The screen is almost totally black, as the sounds of the crowd, in-race commentary from Jerome Avery and words from Brown’s guide runner play out in the background.

It features music, scored by British composer Daniel Pemberton, from Rising Phoenix, a new Netflix film about the Paralympic Movement.

The work was created by Edd Gold.

The campaign launched last night in the UK and US, on UK Paralympics broadcaster Channel 4 and on US channel NBC. The IPC is making the film available to Paralympic broadcasters in more than 180 countries globally to help build anticipation for the tournament next year.

There is also an audio-described version for people with vision impairment and a subtitled version for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Craig Spence, chief brand and communications officer at the IPC, said: “Faced with unique circumstances and a historic first postponement of the Paralympic Games, we have a Groundhog Day scenario whereby we are once again celebrating one year to go until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

"To mark the occasion, maintain interest in the Games and generate excitement for next year, we wanted an impactful global campaign that would appeal to Paralympic Games rights holders and sport fans around the world.”