Paralympic Games

Canada > Archive by tag 'Paralympic Games'

Paralympic Sport of the Day: Wheelchair Curling

VANCOUVER PARALYMPIC CENTRE

In this relatively new sport, two teams—comprised of both males and females, seated in wheelchairs—take turns pushing 19.1-kg (42-lb) granite stones towards the centre of a series of concentric circles. To throw stones, players can use either their hands or extender cues (delivery sticks). While throwing a stone, a player’s wheelchair must remain stationary. The winner of a game is the team with the most stones closest to the centre. Unlike Olympic curling, wheelchair curling does not employ sweeping.—Sheri Radford

Paralympic Sport of the Day: Biathlon

WHISTLER PARALYMPIC PARK

Athletes compete against others with a similar disability in the categories of standing, sitting or visually impaired. Competitors alternate between skiing a loop of a cross-country course and, from the prone position, taking five shots at a target. In the short distance biathlon, competitors ski a 2.5-km (1.5-mi) loop three times and shoot twice, while in the long distance biathlon skiers complete the loop five times and shoot four times. Athletes with a visual impairment line up the target using an acoustic system. Events include individual and pursuit.—Sheri Radford

Paralympic Sport of the Day: Ice Sledge Hockey

UBC THUNDERBIRD ARENA

Players have a physical disability in the lower halves of their bodies. They sit on sledges made of aluminum or steel and fitted with two blades. The athletes move the puck using double-ended sticks, one in each hand; one end has a hooked blade for handling and shooting the puck, while the other has a pick for propelling the sledge. To allow players easy access and the ability to watch when waiting to play, the rink’s ice extends under the players’ benches and penalty boxes, and boards have been replaced with clear Lexan. Also called sled hockey, this sport follows most of the same rules as hockey. For the first time in Paralympic history, both genders are competing in this tournament.—Sheri Radford

Paralympic Sport of the Day: Alpine Skiing

WHISTLER CREEKSIDE

Athletes compete against others with a similar disability, in one of three categories. Standing skiers have a locomotive disability; they use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers and can use a prosthesis, plus stabilizing crutches instead of ski poles. Sitting skiers have no use of their legs; they use a mono-ski, which looks like a chair attached to skis. Skiers with a visual impairment must ski with a guide. Racers can exceed 100 km/h (62 mi/h) on vertical drops of 120 to 800 m (395 to 2,625 ft). Events include downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super-G (super giant slalom) and super combined.—Sheri Radford

Hot Entertainment: Meet Sumi

See Sumi out and about during the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, on from Mar. 12 to 21

With a name that derives from a Salish word meaning “guardian spirit,” it’s no wonder Sumi, the mascot for the Paralympic Games, takes on the role of protector. This little character has big shoes to fill: he’s an animal spirit who walks with the sturdy legs of a bear, possesses the powerful wings of the mythical thunderbird and wears the hat of the orca, known to First Nations as the keeper of the sea. Outfitted in fern green, his favourite colour, Sumi spends time skiing and flying above the mountains in Whistler, where he makes his home.—Kristina Urquhart

What’s the Difference?

Confused about the types of events? Read on

by Kristina Urquhart

The world’s most elite sporting competition is also arguably the oldest: an ancient version of the Olympic Games began in 776 B.C. In 393 A.D., the Games—believed by then to be a “pagan cult”—were banned until the first modern Olympic Games in the summer of 1896. Today, able-bodied athletes participate in the 26 summer sports and 15 winter sports, but athletes with disabilities are also eligible.

Ice sledge hockey. Photo courtesy Tourism BC

Like the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games are also held every two years, alternating between summer and winter competitions. These Games offer Olympic-style sports (20 in summer and five in winter) for athletes with a physical or visual disability; thus able-bodied athletes are not eligible to compete. The first official Paralympic Games were held for athletes with spinal-cord injuries in 1960, and 1976 saw the inclusion of athletes with other disabilities.

Often confused with the Paralympic Games, the Special Olympics, founded in 1968 by philanthropist Eunice Kennedy Shriver, are open to athletes with intellectual disabilities. Keeping with Games tradition, the Special Olympics World Games are held every two years, alternating between summer and winter competitions; however, there are also regular contests at local, regional and national levels in more than 150 countries around the world.

If you just can’t get enough of the competitive spirit, tune in to the first-ever Youth Olympic Games, for athletes aged 14 to 18, in Singapore from Aug. 14 to 26.

The Faces of the Games

Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls have big dreams

By Lucas Aykroyd

Competing at home in front of family and friends in the Winter Games is a dream come true for Canadian athletes. Yet it also means pressure. Only once before has this scenario unfolded, at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. There, Canadians such as figure skater Elizabeth Manley and alpine skier Karen Percy achieved memorable medals, but none were gold. Will Canada’s brightest stars end the gold drought during the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler?

Joannie Rochette

Figure Skating

Jumping is something figure skaters do every day, but Joannie Rochette now wants

Photo by Brett Barden courtesy Skate Canada

to make the biggest leap of her career. The 24-year-old Montrealer has been a perennial Canadian champ since 2005 and claimed silver at the 2009 Worlds. In her second Winter Games, she’ll look to do what no Canadian woman has done since Barbara Ann Scott in 1948: land on top of the Olympic podium for singles figure skating.
Facing stiff competition from rivals such as South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na and America’s Sasha Cohen, Rochette has had mixed results in the 2009-10 season, including lower-than-desired finishes in competitions in Asia. Yet the petite blonde realizes that a fine showing in Vancouver is what people will remember, and she’s consistently shone on home ice.
“I know the key is for me to do a lot of run-throughs, and a lot of repetitions [in training], so that when I get to competition, I have confidence,” she says.

Jean Labonté

Ice Sledge Hockey

Defending Canada’s 2006 ice sledge hockey title won’t be easy, but Jean Labonté has

Photo courtesy HockeyCanada.ca

faced and overcome even greater challenges. Despite losing his left leg to bone cancer in 1990, the native of Hull, Quebec didn’t lose his passion for sports. He made the national sledge hockey team in 1996 and is now team captain.
The defenseman has targeted the opponents Canada must beat to repeat: “Right now, the U.S. is world champion. They have a young, talented team. Norway is our eternal rival, with lots of experience and smarts. The Japanese have a shot at the podium, too.”
Paralympic sports don’t always get the attention they deserve, but Labonté hopes to change that and gain new participants in 2010. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” Labonté says. “We want to show people that this is a great sport: hitting, skating, hard shots. It’s hockey.”
Beyond the action at the 6,800-capacity UBC Thunderbird Arena, Labonté looks forward to soaking up Vancouver’s beauty. “I love seeing the mountains everywhere,” he says. “In 1986, I came to Vancouver to participate in Rescue ’86, the world lifeguarding championships. That was the first time I’d been so far from home, and it brings back great memories every time I return.”

Regan Lauscher

Luge

“At my first Olympics in 2002, all I wanted to do was get there and have a great

Photo courtesy Canadian Luge Association

race,” notes this feisty Calgarian, now heading into her third Winter Games. “In 2006, I was considered to be in the top group. For 2010, my challenge is that I’ve been on the ice about half as much as everybody else in the last four years.”
Regan Lauscher, Canada’s most experienced female luger, suffered a bad concussion in Germany in 2007 and underwent surgery on both shoulders in 2008. Lauscher would love to improve on her 10th-place finish in Turin four years ago. But her main goal now, as she puts it, is to “walk away from my Olympic race saying that’s the best I could do, whatever the outcome.”
She’s done the necessary work. Even in the summer, national luge-team members train twice daily—everything from cardio and strength circuit training to rowing and sport-specific, on-ice exercises geared to generate fast starts. Every millisecond counts at the Whistler Sliding Centre, where female lugers can exceed 140 km/h (87 mi/h).
“The payoff is the moment they clear the track and you know there’s 1,200 m (3,390 ft) of ice waiting for you,” Lauscher says. “It’s the adrenalin and the mental challenge. No two runs are ever the same.”

Jeremy Wotherspoon

Speed Skating

Excelling in both the 500-m and 1000-m sprints, Jeremy Wotherspoon

Photo by Jeff Bough

unequivocally ranks among speed skating’s legends. The 33-year-old, who grew up in Red Deer, Alberta, is the winningest World Cup speed skater of all time, and is also a four-time world sprint champion. In November 2007, he powered his way to a new 500-m world record of 34.03 seconds.
But he still hungers for the ultimate prize of Olympic gold, having claimed silver in Nagano in 1998. There would be no sweeter place to get it done than at the Richmond Olympic Oval. Coming back from a broken arm, Wotherspoon plans to retire after the current season.
“Everyone I know who has competed in the Olympics in their country has said it’s an incredible experience,” Wotherspoon says. “It’ll be a great way to culminate my career.”

Britt Janyk

Alpine Skiing

Britt Janyk is one of the Canadian “Speed Queens” who’s aiming to follow in the

Photo copyright ACA/Pentaphoto

tracks of Olympic champs such as Nancy Greene and Kerrin Lee-Gartner. But the 29-year-old Whistler resident, who ranked third overall in the 2008 World Cup downhill standings and won gold that year in Aspen, hasn’t always ruled with ease.
“A couple of years ago, I had to requalify for the team,” Janyk recalls. “I was struggling, and I’d lost my confidence.” While her favourite event remains the super giant slalom, with its speed and technical flair, making the podium in downhill got her career back on track. “It gave me confidence that I can work through things when it gets tough,” she says.
Janyk isn’t discounting home-mountain advantage, with female Olympians competing on Franz’s Run at Whistler Creekside. “We’ve trained quite a bit on the race hill, and we’re really familiar with it,” she says. “I grew up skiing on Whistler Mountain, and it just feels like home.” In her downtime, she shops at Lululemon or grabs breakfast at the Wild Wood Cafe.
Janyk’s grandfather Peter, mother Andrée and brother Michael (a fellow Olympic hopeful) all have fine international ski resumes. She’s raced with fellow “Speed Queen” Emily Brydon since age 12, fostering good team chemistry. No wonder Janyk hopes her 2010 Olympic debut will be her crowning glory.

The Final Countdown

By Jennifer Patterson

The Olympic Countdown Clock in downtown Vancouver. Photo by KK Law

Practice your cheering and dust off your national flag: there’s only one month to go before the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games take over Vancouver and Whistler. It’s been a long time coming, but finally the hustle and bustle is seen and felt around the city. (more…)