Sir Philip Craven, head of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), is in Moscow this week meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials.
Sir Craven visited new training sites and watched Russian Paralympic coaches work with disabled athletes.
The Russian resort of Sochi is bidding for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
The Russian Olympic Committee said that 20,000 disabled Russians engage in sports, reports the Associated Press, and that Russia is home to 1,200 organizations for disabled athletes.
Denise Roza, director of the Perspektiva disabled advocacy group in Moscow, expressed hope that the effort to attract the Olympics would result in greater access of disabled people throughout society.
Roza said, “you don’t need just accessible sports facilities, you need accessible everything – schools, workplaces. They (Paralympic athletes) can be our champions, the symbol for inclusion of the disabled”.
Meanwhile President Putin pushed Sochi’s bid for the 2014 Winter Games at a meeting Monday in Moscow with Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee.
