Like many Singaporeans, I was surprised to learn that the winners of the gold, silver and bronze medals at the recently concluded Paralympic Games are paid one-fifth of the amounts paid to the winners of the same medals at the Olympic Games. This is wrong and the difference should be done away with.

First, some background: Unlike the Olympic Games, which has ancient roots, the Paralympic Games began only in 1960 at the Summer Olympic Games in Rome. At those games, only 400 athletes from 23 countries took part. In comparison, 4,403 athletes from more than 162 countries participated in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.