Andrew Todd said that while the Paralympics initially focused on participation, the event has shifted to have a stronger competitive spirit.The lay persons perspective of Paralympics is, `Oh

Chloe Esposito has a million-dollar smile that outshines even the gold medal she won at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro; a medal that, incidentally, cost her country less than any other Australian gold won in Brazil.The much maligned Winning Edge program, set up after the 2012 Olympic Games in London, pumped funding into sports deemed most likely to garner a gold rush in Rio. It missed a trick with Esposito, whose sport of Modern Pentathlon was viewed as too niche for investment.Which begs the question: If golden glory is the holy grail of sports funding, shouldnt there be some allowance for individual achievement in less fashionable disciplines?Gold medals from the Rio games are 85mm in diameter and weigh 500 gram; they are 92 percent silver with just 6g of actual gold and the rest a copper filler; they are worth in real market terms about $Aus260 for the gold component, and maybe $Aus500-700 for the whole disc combined.To hold one in your hand, though, fills you with wonderment. You can literally feel the hours of training, the sacrifices made, the tears and the joy that went into claiming it.There are a few scratches on Chloe Espositos medal; its been handled by many people -- all keen to bask, if just for a few seconds, in the golden glow that engulfed the modern pentathlete on Aug. 20, 2016. And some of those scratches, perhaps, best reflect the journey of the effervescent young woman who became the first modern pentathlon competitor from outside Europe to stand atop the Olympic podium in 100 years.There is no denying Modern Pentathlon is a niche sport; in fact its five sports, and participation does not come cheaply. Funding is scarce. Chloes father, Daniel, who is also her coach and an Olympian in his own right, estimates keeping Chloe and her brother and fellow Rio Olympian Max at a competitive level, costs around $Aus500,000 per year.The majority of that money has to come out of the Esposito pockets.There is no elite training base for modern pentathletes in Australia. When ESPN asks Esposito where the headquarters in Australia are, her fiancé jokingly chips in with her home address; ironically its probably true.Daniel Esposito, who walks a tightrope between his professional role and just being dad, is an expert in his field having competed at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. He knows what it takes to beat the world, and that means seeking out training environments that regularly pit you against the best competitors on the planet.?For the Espositos, that meant a move to Italy, then Hungary, in their quest to give their talented children the opportunity to fulfill their potential.For mum, Suzanne, the balance has been equally challenging as she juggles the responsibilities of the familys swimming school back home in Sydney while supporting a family all over the globe. That family also includes daughter Emily, a talented shooter who was based in Melbourne at the time, finessing a successful sporting career between two jobs and a university degree in Speech Therapy as well as qualification tournaments held in far flung countries such as Azerbaijan.Despite the lions share of the responsibility falling on the shoulders of the family, the Espositos have an influential champion in their corner. Australias 2016 Chef de Mission, Kitty Chiller, is an Olympian in modern pentathlon (Sydney 2000), and her delight in Chloe and Maxs success in Rio was palpable among myriad other issues her role demanded of her.Not just a former competitor, Chiller is President of Modern Pentathlon Australia, and her intensive lobbying for the sport saw some much needed funding go to the Esposito quest for excellence.Reports list the investment in modern pentathlon for this most recent Olympic cycle at around $Aus190,000, compared with the cost of the bronze medal in Archery at just over $Aus2.6 million, and that of swimming ($Aus4 million per medal) and cycling ($Aus16.3 million per medal). One can quite confidently assume that Kitty Chiller will be advocating strongly that modern pentathlon is worth a whole lot more in dollar value over the next four years.You dont need to be a genius to see that, statistically, the Winning Edge program has a greater likelihood of return on investment in sports with a larger number of participants, ergo possible champions. However, with medals in Tokyo 2020 the next target, is there room to think outside the box?Max Esposito finished seventh at the Rio Olympic Games, the same place sister Chloe finished in London on her debut. He also started the final stage with a 45-second handicap -- exactly the same as his gold medal-winning sister -- and he finished just 6 seconds from a bronze medal.Max Esposito may have played a crucial role as training partner for his sister in the past, but the individual achievements of the 19 year-old have not gone unnoticed.The portents are all there: Max Esposito was the youngest competitor in the mens modern pentathlon field in Rio, he has years of competition ahead of him, and his older sister has proved there might be gold in them thar hills.In four years time, could there be two Espositos on the podium for modern pentathlon?Surely a little lateral thinking could see an opportunity here.How about a Wild Card system? A funding pool that sits separately within the Winning Edge Program to be allocated to an individual or individuals with proven potential to win Olympic medals, world titles, and so on?A selection committee could interview eligible applicants who do not qualify under the usual scheme. The relevant sporting body could present their unique situation, and funding could be awarded on a case-by-case basis offering an athlete with a good chance of a podium finish in a more obscure sport, such as modern pentathlon, a one-off chance for support through a single Olympic cycle.This would both reward the athlete for their achievements and alleviate financial pressure on those who excel in sports that are not beneficiaries of investment on a large scale, while absolving the ASC/AIS of the responsibility of overexposing themselves for the long term in areas that could generate a public backlash.When modern pentathlon was introduced to the Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912, it was founder of the Modern Olympics Baron Pierre de Coubertins belief that it would be this event, above all others, that tested a mans moral qualities as much as his physical resources and skills, producing thereby the ideal, complete athlete.Im sure in current times he would have agreed a woman was equally capable.The true value of an Olympic gold medal can in no way be measured by the market price of the metal from which it is made. The worth most certainly lies in the value of the neck it is placed around at an Olympiad.And Chloe Espositos medal definitely found a home around the neck of a rare jewel -- an unaffected, delightful embodiment of the spirit of Olympic competition.That has to be worth something? Ray Ban China . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. Wholesale Ray Ban Store . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. http://www.salerayban.com/ . White came in fourth place in the event. He was the two-time defending gold medallist. The gold medal went to Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov. Wholesale RB Sunglasses .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Cheap RB From China . After the whistle, Thornton skated the length of the ice, pulled Orpik to the ice from behind and punched him in the face several times. RIO DE JANEIRO -- At the 2012 London Paralympics, athletes competed in venues full of spectators who cheered from the first event to the last. Lines for tickets extended out the doors.Everybody in the crowd was legitimately excited, said U.S. swimmer Brad Snyder, who won two gold medals in London. It wasnt production. It wasnt any magic.London set a new standard for Paralympic attendance and organization. Four years later, concerns over budget problems and slow ticket sales have plagued the Rio Games. The athletes who will march in Wednesday nights opening ceremony at historic Maracana Stadium said their performances wont be affected, and they hope the new, higher profile of the Paralympics wont be either.We want progress, Snyder said. We want to say that weve taken a step forward.Rio Paralympics organizers have seen an uptick in ticket sales in recent days, announcing Tuesday that 1.6 million tickets have been sold. Yet concerns about budget and lags in preparation linger. On Tuesday, workers still were paving parts of the plaza around the Olympic Tennis Centre in Rios Olympic Park.I dont want the movement to plateau or become stagnant, said U.S. wheelchair basketball player Desiree Miller, who also competed in London. I want it to catch fire after Rio so by the time Tokyo comes around theres not a person in the States or a person in the world that doesnt know who a Paralympian is.Organizers in London, in the country that gave birth to the Paralympics after World War II, sold a record 2.7 million tickets. Miller said that during the 2012 Games, people on the streets of London knew who she was and what sport she played.The spotlight followed her home to Wisconsin. Customers recognize her at the sporting goods store where she works.Theyll use the word Paralympian, Miller said. Just for the public to use that word is huge -- that people know the difference.NBC, which broadcast six hours of coverage from the London Paralympics, is planning more than 70 hours of coverage on NBC, NBCSN and the NBC Sports app.We see how much work were putting into it, but its nice for the rest of the world to see, Irish cyclist Peter Ryan said.ddddddddddddSnyder said that if people tune in to the games and fans havent shown up to watch an event live, they might be more likely to change the channel.Londons ticket sales surpassed the 2008 Beijing Games by almost 1 million.When it was revealed in mid-August that only 300,000 tickets of the available 2.5 million for the Rio Games had been purchased, Greg Nugent, the brand, marketing and culture director for London 2012, launched an online crowdfunding campaign to raise money to send Brazilian children to the competition.As of Tuesday, $200,000 has been donated, according to a post on the campaign site. American wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden, Coldplay and Prince Harry have been among the donors.For (kids) to see, `Theyre in wheelchairs and they can do this. Or, they dont have a leg and they do this, then I guess I can, too, said Abby Dunkin, who is on the U.S. wheelchair basketball team in Rio. Its more than just playing our game. Its more about the movement and educating everyone outside.Canadian rower Andrew Todd said that while the Paralympics initially focused on participation, the event has shifted to have a stronger competitive spirit.The lay persons perspective of Paralympics is, `Oh its great that people swim. Thats neat, Snyder said. When you actually see it, you see how intense these athletes are. When you see how much a person with no legs can bench press or squat, it really is quite impressive.Weve known all along the power of the Paralympic movement, but London was the first time it got shown to the community in a really big way, not only from a production standpoint, from a spectator standpoint.---Emily Giambalvo is a journalism student at the University of Georgia. Penn State and Georgia are partnering with The Associated Press to supplement coverage of the 2016 Paralympics. ' ' '