Kimberly Adams

So we checked in with our cattle rancher regular, Nate Bradford of G-Line Ranch in Bowley, Oklahoma.

Nate Bradford of G-Line Ranch in Bowley, Oklahoma.

Despite a week of false spring weather in many parts of this country, over in Italy, the Winter Paralympic Games are in full swing, and an average of 1.4 million viewers watched the primetime coverage this past Saturday on NBC and Peacock.

Viewership for opening weekend was up 27 percent from the 2022 Beijing Paralympics, and more fans are following the Games and the athletes than ever.

Here to talk all things Winter Paralympics is Amy Purdy, a three-time Paralympic medalist in snowboarding.

Her book, Bounce Forward, comes out later this month.

Welcome to the show, Amy.

So the Winter Paralympic Games started just about a week ago in Italy.

You've competed in two rounds.

You kind of wish you were there this time?

Yeah.

In addition to cheering everyone on, you've also been using your social media platforms to kind of raise awareness of some of the problems actually with the Paralympics.

And you were recently talking about why the timing of the Paralympics is problematic.

The coverage of the Paralympic Games is also getting a lot of attention on social media because NBC did more than 3,200 hours of coverage for the Winter Olympics.

But when it comes to the Winter Paralympics, they've only announced that they're going to have more than 270 hours of coverage.

Plus, a lot of the folks who are trying to watch online are complaining that there's not a lot of commentary.

It seems like there's quite a ways to go, even in just terms of

coverage of the events, much less people being able to access them.

It can be difficult to make a living as an athlete in any circumstances when it comes to trying to get corporate sponsorships or trying to get other forms of funding.

How do you see the sort of financial landscape for Paralympians and other para-athletes right now?