2.5 billion people in the world don’t have access to adequate sanitation – that’s two fifths of the entire world’s population!
The Paralympics Games
The Olympic Games are thrilling, heart-breaking, uplifting – pretty much all around amazing! But did you know that there are two Olympic Games? The first games, happening in Vancouver as I write this, are the ones we have all seen, watched and been moved by. The results cover the news, the papers and the web. But I would love to draw a little light on the less-known Paralympic games, where some truly amazing and inspiring athletes are constantly pushing the limits of their physical and mental abilities.
The 2010 Paralympic Games start a week after the Olympics, and run from March 12th-21st – and just like the Olympics Games there will be some fantastic wins, and amazing sports stories.
In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition involving World War II veterans with a spinal cord injuries. Four years later, competitors from the Netherlands joined the games and an international movement was born. Today, the Paralympics are elite sport events for athletes with a disability. They emphasize, however, the participants’ athletic achievements rather than their disability.
There are five categories of games at the Paralympics: Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Cross Country Skiing, Ice Sledge Hockey and Wheelchair Curling.
Alpine: Much like Alpine skiing in the Olympics, this sport is fast, dangerous and intense. Racers can reach speeds of more than 100 kilometers an hour, traveling down a vertical drop that ranges from 120 to 800 metres.
Athletes are classified as standing, sitting or visually impaired and compete against other athletes with a similar disability.
Skiers with a visual impairment use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers, but ski with a guide. Skiers with locomotive disabilities may either use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers or a prosthesis (an artificial arm or leg) and stabilizers in place of ski poles (stabilizers are a type of crutch with a small ski at the end). Sitting skiers use a mono-ski.
Biathlon & Cross Country: Biathlon was first introduced in the 1988 Paralympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. The shooting system has changed considerably since then when, at the 2002 Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, a new electronic and acoustic system was developed.
In both biathlon and cross-country skiing, athletes are categorized as standing, sitting or visually impaired and compete against athletes with similar disabilities.
The International Paralympic Committee utilizes a Nordic Percentage System in order to equalize the disability time handicap for skiers within each category. The percentage is applied to each skier’s final time and the skier with the lowest calculated time is the winner.
Wheelchair Curling: Wheelchair curling is a relatively new sport, making its Paralympic debut at the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games. The first World Wheelchair Curling Championships were held in Switzerland in 2002. It is played much like Olympic curling, but because the athletes don’t have the ability to use their upper body strength – it is some ways much more difficult!
Sledge Hockey: Ice sledge hockey was invented at a Swedish rehabilitation centre in the early 1960s, when a group of athletes with a disability decided they wanted to continue playing hockey. They took two regular ice hockey skates and built a metal frame (called a sledge) to fit on top, with enough room for the puck to pass underneath. Using short poles to propel themselves along the ice, the men played the first ice sledge hockey match outdoors, on a lake south of Stockholm. By 1969, Stockholm had a five-team ice sledge hockey league. Ice sledge hockey debuted at the 1994 Paralympic Winter Games in Lillehammer.
“Our men compete as hard as any able bodied player I’ve ever coached. I think you really have to see a game to appreciate the athletic ability they have. People are amazed at the speed and the aggressive nature of the game. Their will to win is as great as anybody else’s. I saw that when we won the gold medal at the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games. They are truly proud to wear the maple leaf. Watch for them at Vancouver 2010 and you will discover a new twist on Canada’s game.” – Jeff Snyder, Head Coach of the Canadian Ice Sledge Hockey team
Learn more about the Paralympic Games
Or Learn all about the Inspiring Athletes
Tags: athletes, inspiring, paralympic games, sledge hockey, wheelchair curling
Wheelchair curlers don’t use their legs – they can and do use upper body strength. The major difference to regular curling is there is no sweeping.