Now, the Olympics returns to Paris for the third time later this month. Mountain biking has been an Olympic sport since 1996, but it has yet to appear at the Paralympics. Ben Dericot has been to meet the bikers who are using technology to build adaptive bikes to make that possible.

This is competitive mountain bike racing, a sport where riders hurl themselves off massive jumps, careen through narrow tree-line trails, and fly downhill at high-watering speeds.

So I started competing when I was 12, 11 years old. I used to ride downhill.

This is Gustavo Ortiz, a competitive mountain biker and the two-time national champion of his native Chile.

I was Pan-American champion, national champion multiple times, and I finished 20th in a World Cup. It was my best result.

But while training in 2017, he had a tragic accident.

I crashed in Whistler, and I finished paralyzed from my chest down.

Did you think you would be able to cycle again?

No, it never came to my mind.

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Although mountain biking will be an official sport at this year's Olympic Games, it's not yet been made an official sport in the Paralympic Games. That's partially because the bikes needed to race simply haven't existed. Many traditional hand cycles are built to be ridden on the road and feature wide wheel bases. Occasionally, they even place riders kneeling forward. This position puts their center of gravity higher, something that would make sharp turns difficult on a loose dirt mountain bike trail. But a Canadian company think they've developed a solution.

I broke my back in 1996 snowboarding, and prior to that, I loved mountain biking. I loved snowboarding and climbing. I was like a kid who loved the outdoors in Canada. And very early on in my injury, I recognized that I was going to be 100 % reliant on technology.

So a machinist by trade, Christian began building experimental adaptive mountain bikes at home.

The problem was always that I would tip. I would tip over, or I would go fast down a hill and corner and tip to the outside of the corner.

For years and years, he tinkered with different designs, but nothing worked. So he focused his energy instead head on a custom cross country ski chair that could shift and pivot over undulating snow. It was while skiing that a light bulb went off. If he just flipped the ski set up over, he'd have a system that would allow the wheels to articulate and absorb shocks independently. While it has helped with his racing, Gustavo says this technology has helped him get back and enjoy riding his bike again.

I feel that I'm discovering another riding because because I was so used to just racing, like racing, racing, racing. I'm preparing for racing. But now I'm just enjoying the process of riding and going for long rides and learning how to enjoy being in those places.

While we're certain a bowhead won't be at this year's Paralympics in Paris, they might just be kicking up cloud of dust in Los Angeles in 2028.

And we're going to have all you need to know from the Olympics and Paralympics on the BBC news and BBC Sports website.