Yes, athletes can compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games

PARIS, France — As hundreds of athletes compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, we have already seen some great moments. 

Team USA has taken home 41 medals so far, including nine gold medals and counting. 

It takes a lot to make it onto the world stage—and even more to make a double feature in The Games.

As teams and individual athletes continue to the eye the gold, an 11Alive viewer asked if athletes can compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

The Question

Can athletes compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games?

The Sources

• International Olympic Committee
• The Olympics
• And The Paralympics

The Answer

Yes, athletes can compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

What We Found

While the history of The Games goes about 3,000 years back to Ancient Greece, the Olympics we know now launched in 1896 in Athens.

Eight years later, American gymnast George Eyser qualified for the 1904 St. Louis Games with a wooden leg. Not only did he compete, he won and took home six medals, including three gold medals. 

It would take another 56 years – for the first Paralympic Games in Rome.

In 1984, New Zealander Neroli Fairhall became the first para-athlete to compete in the Olympic Games. Fairhall first made her Paralympic debut in Arnhem in 1980. She would continue to make history and was inducted into the Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2016.

After Fairhall, six other athletes landed spots in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the same year.

Italy’s Paola Fantato – became the first athlete to compete in both games in the same year, in Atlanta's 1996 Games.

This year, athletes have until Aug. 5 to qualify for the Paralympics.