I retweeted this retweet above last night and CTV's Tom Popyk contacted me via Twitter wanting to know how I was involved with the Paralympics. I said that I wasn't, that I was just a supporter who had volunteered at Vancouver 2010 and seen a couple of games and just wanted to continue spreading the good word. He asked permission to pass my details on to the CTV news desk, to which I assented, and in the meantime, I got to thinking.
Why do we cheer on the
Jamaican bobsled team? Canada, in particular, is a nation that loves to cheer
on the underdog (and they're not the only ones). It’s an empathy thing. As a non-athlete, I can appreciate the efforts the team
made to even get to the Olympic Games – the hard work, the determination, the fundraising.
So, now that the Olympics are over, let’s shift that focus to the Paralympics,
and lose the empathy, these athletes don’t need it. They need the support of
their nation.
I am inspired by the
drive, the passion, the commitment, the never-say-die attitude, the courage,
the skill, the sheer physical strength these athletes possess and display every day. I ‘can’t’
even get my somewhat corpulent body to yoga on a regular basis and there are
men and women doing biathlon (that’s the one with a distance cross-country
skiing and a sharpshooting component) in three different ways: sitting, standing,
visually impaired! You don't want to watch me curl. Well, you might for the sheer comedic value.
Did you know there are
Super G, Slalom Combined, Downhill Combined events for the visually impaired
(as well as standing and sitting)? These folks have the chutzpah to hurtle
themselves off a mountain and slalom around gates feeling only the wind on
their faces and the roar of the crowd without the ability to see but have
absolute trust in their skiing guide to turn on a dime when needed. If you
haven’t had enough of hockey or curling – Canada has a team in both wheelchair
curling and sledge hockey. I saw Canada play Italy at Vancouver 2010 – Canada’s
got game. Actually, Canada will have game in all six Paralympic disciplines: para-snowboard, para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing, biathlon, sledge hockey and wheelchair curling.
The National
Paralympic Committee has it 100% correct when they say focus on what’s there,
not what is missing (http://paralympic.ca/news-and-events/press-releases/canadian-paralympic-committee-launches-sochi-2014-campaign-to-build).
When I first saw the ads, I thought they were brilliant.
Paralympians are
athletes, full stop. Athletes exhibiting all the same qualities we admire so
much in Olympic athletes; what they are limited by are the limitations
outsiders place upon them. These are elite-level athletes who have already
proven that they can do whatever they set their minds to. WE are the ones with
the limits, so let us not just continue to marvel at what they do ‘despite’ – they
achieve the so-called impossible on a regular basis. Let us be inspired by what
these superb athletes can do ‘with’ - and with their nation behind them. Every
single one of them has earned our respect and then some.
March 7-16, 2014 – be there.
Photo credits: Canadian Paralympic Committee / Matthew Murnaghan
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