I photographed the training and the participation of the Greek athletes with disabilities at the Beijing Paralympic Games 2008. This project was for me a unique opportunity to observe and experience the resilience of the human spirit and the passion of the human heart. Human will was revealed before my eyes in all its glory. A power that can change the world, inspire and unite people as only few things can do. A creator of hope. Sport is more than simply who wins and who loses. Its about the bonds between people and the relationships that last a lifetime. In these kind of sports you come close perhaps to the true meaning of the Olympic spirit, a spirit that defines all the difficulties and compete with dignity, that celebrates the participation in the paralympic games and not only the victory and the glory.

Moreover sports with athletes with disabilities are a high standard spectacle with many excitements that engage you to watch it. During this project I saw blind athletes playing soccer, I saw basketball in wheel chairs, I saw athletes with severe injuries at their legs practicing powerlifting, I saw people with prosthetic legs and blind people running in athletics almost in the same time that normal athletes do, I saw people with just one arm and no legs swimming and win medals. Cheri Blauwest (USA Athletics) says that “sport is a way of showing that disability isn't really a disability, it is just a different way of living. If we are given the opportunity to enhance our own talents, anything is possible”. Pam Fernandes (Cycling Canada) argues that “if we could somehow bring the respect, dignity and camaraderie of the Paralympic Village to the rest of the world we would learn a lifetime of lessons in a single day. The Paralympics is more than a two week sporting event. It is a mind set, an attitude and a way of life”. This project ended up in a book in December 2008 with the title ‘from Athens to Beijing’ in collaboration with the Hellenic Paralympic Committee.