by Shelly Brisbin
Athletes of All Abilities Race Side-by-Side in New Apple Film, “The Relay”
With the 2024 Paralympic Games set to take the spotlight in Paris next week, Apple has released a new short film called “The Relay”. Though paralympians compete against others with disabilities, the film showcases several athletes with disabilities competing alongside athletes without them. (As you might expect, you’ll also see plenty of ways they all use Apple tech in their daily lives and on race day.)
Competition that includes both athletes with disabilities and those without happens all the time, but it’s not what most of us expect. In “The Relay,” eight athletes compete in two teams. There’s a track cyclist with an upper limb difference, a wheelchair racer, a low-vision swimmer and a blade runner, all shown both on the field (or in the pool) and at home, getting ready for the day with an assist from the Apple Watch or iPhone. Some athletes featured in the film are hopefuls for the L.A. games in 2028.
The film shows off Apple Watch fitness features, including wheelchair workouts and sleep-tracking, along with accessibility options like Assistive Touch and iPhone Spoken Content, which announces notifications and other information. Magnifier and its Point and Speak feature give a swimmer with low vision the information needed to locate a lane in the pool.
Third-party apps GoSwim, which helps swimmers analyze their technique on iPad; MATLAB on Mac, which visualizes aerodynamic data; and the my i-limb app for the iPhone, which provides users the flexibility to control the grip of their bionic prosthetics, all get quick shoutouts in the film.