Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award
The Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award is one of the world's highest honors for disabled athletes . It honors those athletes who best convey the spirit of disabled sports and who are extraordinarily socially committed; In addition, it should honor the special achievements in overcoming the disability through sport.
The award goes back to an initiative of the South Korean doctor Youn Dai Whang , who - although suffering from poliomyelitis herself - has campaigned for the needs of the disabled for decades. She received the Today's Woman Prize from the South Korean press in 1988 and donated the prize money to the International Coordination Committee (ICC), the forerunner of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The ICC then decided to offer the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award.
From the start of each Paralympic Games up to a certain period of time, up to two athletes (in which case it must be a man and a woman) can be proposed for the prize either by the IPC, the national Paralympic committees or local press representatives. The nomination should be made regardless of nationality, gender, sporting success, religion, skin color or ideology. However, the nominees must meet three criteria:
- You must be an active athlete in the relevant Paralympic Games
- You have to follow the general rules and live up to your responsibilities as an athlete
- You must condemn the use of prohibited substances to improve performance / prove fair play
The Seoul- based award committee will select three men and three women as candidates from the nominees. These six athletes are then personally evaluated in about half an hour's talks, with almost the same questions being asked. Ultimately, the jury traditionally awards the medals made of 75 grams of pure gold to a male and female athlete during the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
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