Six years from now Whistler’s streets, recreation facilities, and ski runs will be host to some of the best athletes in the world – the Paralympians.
"I am very excited, said sit-skier Brad Lennea, recently back from world championships in Austria.
"I can’t wait.
"I can’t even imagine what it will like to compete here in Whistler, at home. It is going to be phenomenal.
"This will be the first time the Paralympics will have been held in Canada, either summer or winter, and Canada is going to do a really good job of showcasing their disabled athletes at the same level as their Olympic athletes."
Lennea is already seeing a legacy from the coming Paralympics.
"My sport, disabled skiing, is getting a lot of recognition lately," he said.
"People know about it, they know of it, whereas when I started skiing seven years ago nobody had ever heard of it. So our sport is becoming higher profile because of the whole 2010 event."
And he believes Whistler will do a great job hosting the event because it is already aware of the needs of people with disabilities.
The Paralympic Game will run 10 days after the conclusion of the Olympics and they will be held entirely in Whistler.
That’s a decision, which was highly praised by the International Olympic Committee and favoured by Canada’s own Paralympic Committee.
"I think generally there is a great deal of faith and confidence in both the community and the citizens that they will do a tremendous job organizing it and of course supporting it," said Patrick Jarvis, president of the CPC.
To mark the occasion today (Friday, March 12) the Whistler Olympic information office will celebrate with a community cake-cutting event at 3:30 p.m.
There is a lot of recognition, said Whistler Mayor Hugh O’Reilly, that this is "really our community’s opportunity to stand alone and showcase ourselves."
O’Reilly points to the number of Paralympians who train here and said their drive helped the bid win the right to host the Games and the Paralympics.
"They have encouraged us saying that this is going to be fantastic and that Whistler is going to shine and set a standard by which all other future Paralympic Games will be measured," said O’Reilly.
But there will also be a silver lining for the resort from the Paralympics.
Upgrades to venue locations will make the resort even more accessible and it will be recognized world-wide as being a friendly vacation spot for those with disabilities.
"Often times a family is making a decision about a holiday and perhaps one of the group has some challenges," said O’Reilly.
"The vacation will be based around that individual so the more welcoming we can be the more likely it will be a winning choice for that individual and their family or whole support system.
"So we can position ourselves very nicely.
"Often times the challenges facing people with disabilities are the same as those facing mothers with strollers or the elderly, so this will just make our community easier to get around for a host of people beyond those who are identified as disabled."
Jarvis of the Paralympic Committee agreed and added that not much attention has been focused on those with disabilities when it comes to tourism.
He suspects that is about to change.
"One of the big things that we have never really pushed, but is becoming an issue, is the purchasing power of individuals with a disability especially as our population ages," said Jarvis.
"Older people needing walkers or wheelchairs, or those who have lost their sight they would love to go back to a place they know if the attitudes and the physical facilities facilitated that."
Jarvis is also hopeful that hosting the Paralympics will cause a sea change in attitudes to those with disabilities.
"In terms of a legacy certainly within Whistler, Vancouver, B.C., and across the country I believe there will be an attitudinal shift towards athletes with a disability," said Jarvis.
"When I say attitudinal I mean people will recognize the athletes for their abilities and it will go from this almost paternalistic view to a true recognition of their athletic ability."
The Paralympic events are alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, sledge hockey, biathlon and wheelchair curling. The Games of 2010 will mark the first time wheelchair curling will be an official Paralympic sport.
The athletes will use the same facilities as the Olympic athletes, with the exception of the wheelchair curling, which will take place in the existing Meadow Park community centre.
The only venue still under discussion is the sledge hockey arena. Whistler must decide if it will build a new facility at the north end of Whistler Village or upgrade the current sports arena.
The idea of Paralympics began in 1948, when Sir Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition involving Second World War veterans with spinal cord injuries in Stoke Mandeville, England. Four years later, competitors from the Netherlands joined the Games and the international movement, now known as the Paralympics, was born.
Olympic style games for athletes with disabilities were organized for the first time in Rome in 1960, with 400 athletes participating. In Toronto in 1976, other disability groups were added and the idea of merging together different disability groups for international sport competitions was born. In the same year, the first Paralympic Winter Games took place in Sweden.
The Paralympic Games have always been held in the same year as the Olympic Games. Since the Seoul Summer Games (1988) and the Albertville Winter Games (1992) they have also taken place at the same venues as the Olympics.
From the 2012 bid process onwards, the city chosen to host the Olympic Games will be obliged to host the Paralympics as well.
There will be approximately 700 athletes competing from at least 40 different countries at the 2010 Paralympics.
Canada has participated in every Paralympic Winter Games, beginning with the inaugural Games in Sweden in 1976 when Canada sent six athletes who competed in alpine and cross country skiing. Canada's Winter Paralympic athletes have brought home a total of 77 medals, the most (15 each) coming in the last two Games in Nagano, Japan, and Salt Lake City.
