'It's hurtful': No party invite for Paralympians
A Paralympian sprinter from Grimsby has called out the organisers of an exclusive after-show party for treating Olympians and Paralympians differently.
Team GB and Paralympics GB athletes were jointly hosted at a reception held at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, in celebration of Britain's success in Paris this summer.
However, Zac Shaw, a visually impaired sprinter who won silver in the mixed 4x100m and bronze in the 100m T12 in Paris, said it was "hurtful" and "unfair" that Paralympians were not invited to the after-party hosted by London department store Fortnum & Mason.
A spokesperson for the store said: "There has been a failure of communication on our part here and we are truly sorry."
Shaw said he had trawled through his emails to find an invite to the after-party after one of his friends, an Olympian, mentioned it to him.
Neither Shaw nor his partner Ali Smith, also a Paralympic sprinter, could find an invite so the pair assumed it was an event for Olympians only.
He said: "It's just hurtful and I mean you have situations like this honestly so frequently, whether it's brands, prize money, even hosting a Paralympic race at a competition.
"You have to pick your times to actually call it out.
"For me yesterday being under the same roof as the King and all the Olympic and Paralympic medallists and in one place, but the Paralympic medallists have to get in the car and drive home while the Olympic medallists get to enjoy a four-hour after-party with champagne bottles with their name engraved into it.
"It's just unfair."
Hi @Fortnums 👋 as you’re aware, the Olympic and Paralympic medalists were invited to Buckingham Palace yesterday. It would be nice to understand why you hosted an after party for the Olympic medalists but made the decision not to invite the Paralympic medalists? Why? 😅😅
— Zac Shaw (@shawzac) November 8, 2024
According to a screenshot posted by Shaw on Instagram, a spokesperson for Fortnum & Mason apologised and said there was a separate event for Paralympians "in the works".
"We are really sorry that we could not do both of the planned parties together, which would have been our preference, but we are restricted on space and simply could not have fitted everyone in at the same time," the message said.
"However, there has been a failure of communication on our part here and we are truly sorry. We really hope to make it up to you when we get everyone together to celebrate.
"Thank you for your patience and we will get back to you personally with the details soonest."
Shaw said the response was "not good enough at all" and that he felt it had made it worse.
He said he initially contacted Fortnum privately but went public on social media when they did not respond.
'It's not equality '
The athlete added: "It's been nice to see how many people with disabilities or not have come to the same conclusion that it's not equality."
In a later statement, the company said: "We entered into this with good intentions but recognise that we have made a mistake here for which we fully apologise.
"We have been planning for, and of course will be honoured to host, a ParalympicsGB celebratory event at Fortnum's and an invitation to do that has been made, but we do understand the hurt we have caused by not making our plans clear to the athletes earlier."
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