Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

The Paralympic patriarch - Sir Philip Craven

Sir Philip Craven speaks less like an overarching president of an international sports organization and more like the proud patriarch of one large global family. That's what the Paralympics mean to this charismatic president.
61719_l

Sir Philip Craven speaks less like an overarching president of an international sports organization and more like the proud patriarch of one large global family. That's what the Paralympics mean to this charismatic president. And when that feeling of family is combined with unparalleled performance on the field of play, well... it's easy to see why he's so passionate about his job.

"That's what keeps charging up these batteries that really should be absolutely flat out," said Sir Philip this week.

But calling him passionate about the Paralympics belies the deep emotion that he feels as president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), responsible for these Games.

He's a five time Paralympian himself in wheelchair basketball (1972-1988) and swimming (1972), among his many accomplishments in competition. He's been president of the IPC for eight and a half years, a time of great positive change in the movement. At these Games, Whistler is his home base and he says the town has risen to the challenge, delivering on all its promises and providing a great atmosphere.

On his way to Vancouver Tuesday to watch two sledge hockey games, Sir Philip took time to speak to the Pique about his experience to date at the 2010 Paralympics. This is an excerpt of that conversation.

 

Pique: What has your time been like so far in Whistler?

SPC: Up in Whistler there's a tremendous atmosphere. We were at the second day of the slalom competition yesterday (Monday)... and Lauren Woolstencroft won the first of what might be several medals in the women's events. And then the men just came down and absolutely attacked the course. It was absolutely breathtaking. And when the New Zealand racer, Adam Hall, who won the gold, fell and then got up and then absolutely collapsed at the finish, he had just given his all and taken the gold medal, it was astonishing. You know, for me, I'm a Paralympian but these people just absolutely amaze me.

 

Pique: I've read that you're particularly amazed by the para-alpine skiers.

SPC: No, no. All the athletes do (amaze me). But I can see myself maybe being, probably not a very good one, a cross-country skier. I could see myself being a curler. I'm a wheelchair basketball player so I have an affinity with the sledge hockey. But coming down those slopes, there's no way you'd even get me near that. It's just mind-blowing.

 

Pique: Since you were a Paralympian more than 20 years ago, how have the Paralympics changed?

SPC: Well I think they've got bigger of course. We've now got great spectator numbers. We didn't have that when I was a Paralympian. In Heidelberg, my first Paralympic Games (in 1972), we played in a big gym really. The maximum number of spectators would be 500 or 1,000. Barcelona (in 1992) changed all that - 12,500 inside on the second night of the wheelchair basketball competition and 4,000 being told there's no room, go home and watch it on TV. A bit of a dip in Atlanta but the same happened in Sydney and the same happened in Athens and definitely the same happened in Beijing. And then the Winter Games. We had great crowds in Salt Lake just after I'd been elected, I'd only been elected three months, and there I was never having set foot, or set a wheel on a winter sports event in my life and there I was in Salt Lake. Then the passion really lived with Torino and here we are in Vancouver - des plus brillants exploits - and Whistler."

 

Pique: What has been your biggest accomplishment as president these eight and a half years?

SPC: I think the biggest accomplishment that the movement has made while I've been president, which is slightly different, is we've moved from being a disability, with a big "D", sports organization to a sports organization where that "D" word doesn't exist.

 

Pique: How important is that change?

SPC: It's absolutely fundamental because we're about sport. We're all individuals of the world coming together in teams and we don't want any marginalization and differentiation, just because of a damn word."

Pique: How has that change happened?

SPC: We were responsible I think when I became president for maybe 14 sports - we were the international federation for 14 sports. Now we're the international federation for eight sports. And how do you create the relationships with those international federations so that they wish to take on a Paralympic sport and also the Paralympic sport itself wishes to go to that federation? You've got to talk sport. You've got to be sports people. That's how you see it. There's a far, far closer teamwork and team spirit, with an organizing committee such as VANOC, than maybe there was 10 years ago with previous organizing committees... There wasn't this same close interaction and close exchange of ideas and capabilities. And so, this is where you see it.

And you see now that many of the athletes are getting exactly the same support from their governments, and some of them are gaining a commercial sponsorship, as Olympic athletes. There are many, many indicators that this is happening and continuing to happen. There's a big change there.

Pique: If you could make one thing better as president, what would it be?

SPC: We have the resources at the moment to ensure that we have a structure that works with regard to putting on the best Paralympic Games and Paralympic Winter Games that we have. But we don't have the resources to develop our movement as it should be developed and so that's got to change. And that will change hopefully in the coming years.

A Games is only supported by having new athletes, more and more athletes, younger athletes wishing to participate and therefore sport development has got to take place in every one of our national Paralympic committees. There are so many potential athletes out there that at the moment aren't able to practice Paralympic sport and so we've got to get to those people and get far, far more athletes competing. That's my major task over the next four years, and if I am re-elected for a final term, over the next eight years, or whoever is elected as president at the next election, that must be one of the prime targets for the future.

 

Pique: How do you get more athletes competing?

SPC: We don't have the funding essentially so that we can give seed funding for the development of sport in many of our national Paralympic Committees. Some of our national Paralympic Committees are very well funded. I think there was a great announcement by the government for the Canadian Paralympic Committee between the two Games (the federal government committed $10 million over two years to the Paralympics). Things seem to be moving tremendously well here. And they are in many other countries in the world. But in many, many others - we've got 175 National Paralympic Committees - there just needs to be that financial support so that expertise can be got into those countries so that they can really start to grow.

Pique: Are any athletic accomplishments at the 2010 Games sticking out at this point?

SPC: These incredible performances, they'll be happening all week and I'm just weighing up at the moment how many of them I'll refer to in my closing ceremony speech. I may have just such a long list, I've got to be a little bit selective. They're happening every day, in every venue.

 

Pique: You've spoken a lot about your time as a competitive wheelchair basketball player. Do you miss the thrill of competition?

SPC: Not at all, because I get it all here. Life just moves on... It's still just the greatest of thrills.