The last thing any Paralympian wants is pity.
While the companion event to the Olympics may have its roots in rehabilitation, it takes far more than a disability and a competitive spirit to even think about representing your country at a modern Paralympic Games. It takes years of hard work, training and sacrifice just to qualify - and to get to the level where you're in a position to win a gold medal takes a level of dedication that most of us could never imagine.
Anyone who thinks the Paralympics are a consolation prize for people with disabilities or a lesser event than the Olympics should try to push their way around on a hockey sledge for 45 minutes while bodies and pucks fly around the ice. Or pole a sit ski around a hilly 15 km cross-country track using only their upper body strength. Or blast down the Dave Murray Downhill at 110 km/h supported by a single ski, or on a prosthetic, or with a bandana pulled down over their eyes. Sport doesn't get much harder than this.
And while good spectators will always cheer on the winners and runners-up at the Paralympics equally for the sake of sportsmanship, these events don't hand out participation ribbons - almost all of the athletes out there are going for the top step of that podium. That's what they've trained for and they will do whatever it takes to make that happen.
The only exceptions are the newcomers, who are coming to 2010 to gain experience so they can win in 2014.
A Paralympic history
It all began shortly after World War II. The first post-war Olympic Games took place in London in 1948 and were a welcome symbol of life returning to normal for a world that had been under the gun for nearly six years.
Just a few years before the Games soldiers returned home to England as heroes after battling the armies of Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan. Some had scars they would carry for the rest of their lives. Some were missing limbs, others blinded, others confined to wheelchairs for the rest of their lives.
Recognizing the need to rehabilitate wounded spirits as well as bodies, and a believer in the power of sport as therapy, Dr. Ludwig Guttman held wheelchair races for British WWII veterans with spinal cord injuries during the Olympic Games. The first event, dubbed the Stoke Mandeville Games after the hospital and rehabilitation centre where Guttman worked, was a huge success and attracted some international attention from the Olympic press.
The event took place annually until the fourth anniversary, during the 1952 Olympics, when a group of Dutch veterans took part to liven things up. As Guttman expected, the competition brought out the best in his patients who now trained to go faster and faster and looked at ways to improve their equipment. It grew and grew until at last wheelchair games became an official part of the Olympics, taking place following the 1960 Games in Rome. They were dubbed the Paralympic Games.
It was a rough start in some ways. For example, the athletes' village had some issues with wheelchair accessibility, requiring the Italian army to step in and help move athletes. Also, the events catered to individuals with spinal cord injuries; they were not yet inclusive of other disabilities.
But by the time the 1964 Games in Tokyo rolled around many of those issues were improved upon.
Mexico City backed out of hosting the 1968 Paralympic Games for logistical reasons, but Tel Aviv in Israel picked up the torch and kept the event alive. By then the Games had expanded to 750 athletes from 30 countries. A classification system was introduced to level the playing field - also opening events to athletes with disabilities other than spinal cord injuries.
Since then the Paralympics have grown exponentially and currently the Summer Paralympic Games are the second largest event in the world - exceeded only by the Olympics themselves.
The foray into Winter Games didn't happen until the Swedish Games in 1976, and also started out as a small affair with 16 countries and just over 250 athletes taking part in alpine and nordic skiing events. Canada took part, winning just four medals to place ninth among nations.
While the Calgary Olympics in 1988 were generally considered a success, the Paralympic Winter Games actually took place in Austria that year because of problems with financing, recruiting volunteers and officials and other issues. That was the last time a Paralympic Games were held that were disassociated with the Olympics themselves.
Similarly, Montreal did not host the summer Paralympic Games in 1976. That makes the 2010 Paralympics the debut of Paralympic sports in Canada.
The Vancouver organizing committee also took the unusual step of giving the Paralympics top billing. Instead of creating a separate organization, the organizing committee was launched as the Vancouver Organizing Committee of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
The 2010 Paralympics represent the 10 th running of the Winter Games, and are expected to bring 1,350 athletes, guides coaches and trainers from more than 40 different countries.
Canada's prospects have also improved since 1976, with athletes placing sixth among nations in 2002 and 2006 with 15 and 13 medals respectively.
The goal in 2010, through the Own The Podium program, is to place third among nations for gold medals. While the Olympics generally rank nations by total medals, the Paralympic tradition is to rank countries by gold medals.
A share of the Top Secret program - a division of Own The Podium that was dedicated towards improving sport sciences and technologies in Canada - was focused on the Paralympics, improving sledges for ice hockey players, sit skis for alpine skiers and other innovations for Paralympians. In that sense the Paralympics are very much about driving the technology - and improvements to performance gear often lead to improvements in the daily lives of disabled individuals.
All of the Nordic and alpine events are divided into three categories - sitting, standing and visually impaired - and within each category the athletes are given a classification that corresponds with their level of disability. For example, there are three levels of visually impaired athletes, B1, B2 and B3, and each classification is given a time deduction to level the playing field. For example, an athlete who is partially visually impaired or has partial vision, either B2 or B3, will receive less of a time adjustment than B1 athletes. B1 athletes also have to wear blacked-out goggles to ensure that the playing field is completely level.
There are always controversies when it comes to classifying athletes, which is why the International Paralympic Committee's review panel is generally a pretty busy place. Doctors examine athletes closely and use a few general rules to place athletes - e.g. an above-knee amputee is assessed differently than an athlete with a below-the-knee amputation. Sometimes disabilities are difficult to benchmark, but it's the job of the IPC to apply what they know of human kinetics to compare one disability with another and apply a classification.
Most of the Paralympic events will be taking place around Whistler, with the alpine events on Whistler Mountain and the Nordic events - cross country and biathlon - at Whistler Olympic Park. Only the wheelchair curling and sledge hockey events are taking place in Vancouver.
Spirit In Motion
To get a better sense of what the Paralympics are all about, drop by the Spirit In Motion tent at Mountain Square during the Paralympic Games. This exhibit, hosted by the IPC, provides an overview of the Paralympics and Paralympic Winter Games, including a look at how the technology has evolved over the years.
The tent is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
Inside the Games
• A total of 333 medals will be awarded over nine days of the Paralympics.
• Over 650 athletes from 45 countries are taking part.
• Ontario is fielding 19 athletes for the Paralympics, followed by B.C. with 13 athletes.
• Tickets for Paralympic events range from $10 to $15.
• Norway currently leads all nations for Winter Games medals with 309, followed by Germany with 306 and Austria with 303. Canada has won exactly 100 medals and is ranked ninth.
• The most medals won by any nation at a Paralympics is 70, with Austrian athletes soaring at home in 1984. Norway and Germany each won 64 medals in Lillehammer in 1994. Since then the level of competition has increased, and in the last two Winter Games the most medals earned was 43 by the U.S. team in 2002.
• Since 2004 the budget for the Canadian Paralympic Committee has doubled to $5 million, with a portion of that money coming from Own The Podium. Roughly $3.6 million in additional funding to national sports organizations for alpine, Nordic, curling and sledge hockey was contributed by Own The Podium.
• The number of Paralympic athletes receiving Athlete Assistance Program funding from Sport Canada increased from 50 to 220 over the last five years.
• The Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team (CPAST) made history last year as the first Canadian team to win the overall Nations Cup title, edging out the U.S. in the World Cup/Paralympic test events held in Whistler last March.
Paralympics on television
After disappointing coverage of the Paralympic Winter Games in 2006 - e.g. no live events, the sledge hockey gold medal game was broadcast more than a week later - the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium announced plans to broadcast 57 hours of coverage.
That includes 27 hours of coverage on CTV, TSN and Rogers Sportsnet, plus another 30 hours of French broadcasting on RDS and RIS Info Sports.
Broadcasting includes the opening ceremonies, live coverage of the sledge hockey games, and a daily 90-minute recap show from all of the day's events.
