The Paralympics are becoming more and more like the Olympics.
Well, in the run-up to them, anyway.
The latest Paralympics are due to start early next week but there has been plenty of drama to get to this stage.
As with the Olympics, what Rio de Janeiro promised and what has been delivered are now two very different things.
Cash — or a lack of it — has got in the way and it has clipped the wings of the Paralympic events.
Many of the complexes where some of the more spectacular sports were on display at the Olympics last month will simply not be used.
Some have been packed up and put away as they would have been too expensive to keep running.
Transport has been cut back, as have support services for the athletes, and volunteer numbers scaled down.
With a figure of 12% of tickets sold for the Paralympic events being spoken of, one obvious cutback will be in seating.
The organisers have not been slow in following this suggestion and seats have been reduced in many venues.
Many counties were relying on grants from the Rio organising committee to get to the city in order to compete.
With these millions of dollars worth of funds not forthcoming, there was the suggestion that some countries will simply not show up.
Whether that happens will just be a wait-and-see exercise.
One country which will not be going is Russia which has been hit by a universal ban right across all sports because of its doping programmes.
The slap on the wrist for Russia has become even bigger when it was also banned from the Winter Games in 2018 in South Korea.
New Zealand was affected with the lack of cash but thanks to some reserves, donations, money from High Performance Sport New Zealand and some input from key sponsors, the team will be there for the big dance.
The New Zealand team picked up 17 medals in London four years ago with six gold, seven silver and four bronze.
It is sending a team of 31 para-athletes and 31 support staff across six parasports.
The New Zealand team has a target of 18 medals, including 12 gold and defending the London 2012 title of being the leading country for medals per capita .
Per capita rankings only really work for countries with small populations.
A nation such as China would have to win every medal going and then more if it wanted to match small countries such as New Zealand.
New Zealand has made the most of the Russian suspension and just this week para-canoeist Scott Martlaw and para-cyclist Fraser Sharp were added to the team when places opened up through the ban on Russia.
The added incentive this time is one of the New Zealand athletes could win the 200th Paralympian medal.
The athletes have all been training hard.
The Paralympics are no longer just about having a go — simple participation no longer counts.
These are highly trained athletes who are on dedicated programmes with many, many training miles on the clock.The New Zealand team is made up of eight para-athletes, eight para-cyclists, eight para-swimmers, three para-sailors, three para-shooters and Martlaw in the para-canoeing.
Each athlete is graded on their disability.
Classification provides a structure for fair and equitable competition within the Paralympic movement.
Athletes with disabilities are grouped into sports classes according to how much their impairment affects their ability to carry out the fundamental activities in a specific sport.
The purpose of classification is to define who competes in para-sport and to ensure that the impact of impairment in each event is minimised.
Classification ensures the success of an athlete is determined by skill, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability and mental focus.
They are divided into 10 different impairment types, from impaired muscle power and range of movement to those with short stature or a loss of a limb.
The event is due to begin with the opening ceremony on September 8 [NZ time] and will run through to September 19.
Events will be broadcast live in New Zealand via the Duke channel and there will be daily highlights on One.
New Zealand contenders at the Rio Games
Sophie Pascoe
Swimming
The glamour girl of the New Zealand Paralympics movement, Pascoe will venture to her third Games.
She is a below-the-knee amputee after a lawn mower accident at age 2 but this had hardly stopped her.
She has gone on to win countless medals and titles in the past decade.
Coached by Roly Crichton, who is in a wheelchair, and has been her coach for 14 years, Pascoe shows no sign of slowing down.
She won three gold and one silver medal in Beijing in 2008 and backed that up with three gold and three silvers in London.
She won another six medals at the 2015 IPC Swimming world championships which showed she is not slowing up.
Studying fashion part-time, the 23-year-old will be out to collect more medals.
Cameron Leslie
Swimming
Leslie took up swimming when he was 11 but said he was a dismal failure and gave it up.
But he came back to it and discovered the 150m medley and shocked even himself to win a gold medal at the Beijing Paralympics.
He repeated that effort four years later.
He has also dabbled in wheelchair rugby and played for the Wheel Blacks.
He has quadruple limb deficiency and, when he has some spare time away from the court or the pool, he is the sports editor of the Northern Advocate newspaper in Whangarei.
Mike Johnson
Shooting
The 42-year-old from Auckland has been at the top of his tree in his category for many years, and competed in Athens in 2004.
Injured in a motor vehicle accident 20 years ago, he returned to university and got an information science degree and while there got interested in shooting.
The tetraplegic took to the sport like a duck to water and he shocked not only himself but almost everyone when he won a gold in the 10m air rifle in Athens.
He has backed that up with a bronze medal in Beijing and then silver in London in the same event.
He is highly motivated to do it again and has won gold medals in world cup events over the past couple of years.
Holly Robinson
Athletics
The girl from the West Coast has come on in leaps and bounds since she decided to move to Dunedin in 2011.
She has a congenital limb deficiency but that has not slowed her down in her specialty event of the javelin.
The 21-year-old finished seventh in the javelin at the 2012 London Games but has been right in contention over the past couple of years.
She won silver at the 2013 World Champs and then bronze in the 2015 World Champs.
Trained by Raylene Bates in Dunedin, Robinson has set a goal of a top three placing.
Emma Foy
Cycling
Foy has come out of nowhere to be a real contender for medals on the bike.
She was at a spin class at a fitness centre about four years ago when it was suggested she jump on a bike and see how she went.
The results were first rate and she has never looked back.
Foy, who is visually impaired, has won a host of titles at big meets and won gold at this year’s world championships.
Working with pilot Laura Thompson, the duo are aiming for four medals of the gold variety in the 3km pursuit and 1km time trial and on the road in the time trial and road race.