A peculiar mystery took place in this year’s concluded Paris Paralympics. Shot put athlete Mireille Nganga, who has a leg impairment, and blind sprinter Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, along with his guide Sharon Victor Loussanga, were the only athletes who participated in the competition in the Republic of Congo. Both were also the flag bearers of their country. All of their events took place on the 4th of September, and neither of them could really make an impact.

But since the events, neither of the athletes could be found. A day before the closing ceremony on the 7th of September, a Congolese official finally contacted the police to report their disappearance. The party of three wasn’t seen in the athlete’s village, and they had realized that something was up. Their luggage had also gone missing, although their passports still remain with their delegates. The police have now started investigating the case. Nothing can be ruled out just yet, including sinister possibilities. But this is not the first case of the disappearance of athletes during the Paralympics or Olympics.

Other cases of disappearance during the Paralympics

Another similar case took place just before the start of the Paralympics. When all the athletes started arriving for their competitions, so did Claudine Bazubagira. The Rwandan sitting volleyball player, who is 44 years of age, had already participated in the last two editions at Rio and Tokyo. Thus, this wasn’t something new for her. However, on August 20th, the athlete left her room to go to a restaurant near Courbevoie, a suburb in Paris. She has not been seen or hofrd from again ever since then. She missed the opening ceremony of the games, which took place on the 28th of August.

Now that the competition has concluded, she still remains missing, much to the bewilderment of the French police. They have started investigating the case. However, there is no new update on her as we reach close to a month since the news of her disappearance. Another similar instance that occurred was of the vice president of the Eritrean Olympic Committee. On 3rd September, he left the athlete’s village and never returned. While a common connection has not been established yet, looking at similar cases, a theory might be devised about their disappearance.

Probable causes of these mass disappearances during Paralympics

While nothing concrete can be made of the whole thing without any evidence, there is one cause which keeps occurring in cases like that. The Olympics and the Paralympics are sometimes the main opportunities for athletes to flee their countries in search of better living conditions. This has been seen numerous times in the past. After the London Olympics, more than 82 athletes didn’t return to their country and stayed back in the UK. This is because they saw an opportunity for a better life in the country rather than their home nation.

During the Paris Olympics, Dayle Ojeda, a Cuban Judoka, couldn’t qualify. But, she still travelled with the team o help themtraveledtter. Just before the opening ceremony, she disappeared from the Olympic village. She was found in the city of Valencia in Spain on August 16. She took refuge in the city and talked to the CiberCuba website about the reasons for her doing so. “There are many reasons [that prompted me to make this choice], but the desire to be able to improve as an athlete and feel that I can grow without being stopped (…) were some of those reasons,” she said. Thus, looking at all these events, the fate of the currently disappeared athletes seems to possibly also be similar. Hopefully, all of them are safe wherever they are.