Paralympic Games are on!

After hearing a spirited discussion last year while working with the Disabled Alpine Ski Team, I thought it might be appropriate to use this opportunity to enlighten my friends and family about the paralympic movement. Having worked with a couple of disabled teams, there’s a few things I think is important for everyone to know. First is that there’s not much difference between able-bodied and disabled athletes. The gear they use for their sports may be different, but disabled athletes incorporate periodized training plans, weight training, have grueling competition schedules with lots of international travel, and have lots of competitive drive just like their able-bodied counterparts. Depending on the disability, nutrition is even more important for disabled than for able-bodied athletes. Unfortunately, there’s not as much sponsorship dollars in disabled sports as there is in able-bodied sports, that’s one of the reasons why you’re not able to watch the Paralympics on TV back in the States like you were able to watch the Olympics. I’ve included a link to a free webcast of the Paralympics so you can see some of our athletes compete.

One of the other things I think you should know is that this is the Paralympics, not the Special Olympics. At the risk of offending my Paralympic friends, I think the general public doesn’t really know the difference so I’ll contrast the two for you. The two major differences between the Special Olympics and the Paralympics are the differences in disabilities and the level of sports ability. The Special Olympics is for individuals with intellectual disabilities whereas the Paralympics are for elite athletes with physical disabilities. The Special Olympics goal is “to challenge each athlete to do his or her best while providing a meaningful and enjoyable experience.” The Paralympics goal is to “facilitate competition to determine the best athlete or team.” This means that there are qualifying standards for the Paralympics and that teams and/or individuals can be eliminated through preliminary play.


The Paralympics started off as a competition in 1948 for WWII veterans with spinal cord injuries. The first Olympic style games were organized in Rome in 1960. In 1976, the first Paralympic Winter Games were held in Sweden. Olympic venues are used usually, 2 weeks later for the Paralympic Games. There are 486 athletes from 39 countries here in Torino competing in Ice Sledge Hockey, Wheelchair Curling, Alpine and Nordic Skiing. All athletes are organized within five disability categories: spinal injury, amputee, visually impaired, cerebral palsy, and les autres (others).

In my biased opinion, it’s kind of fitting that the U.S. flagbearer for Paralympic Opening Ceremonies is a military veteran (photo from Torino2006 website). Chris Devlin-Young was serving in Alaska as an aircrewman in the U.S. Coast Guard when his plane crashed in 1982. He was left completely paralyzed from the knees down and partially paralyzed from the waist down. Since picking up skiing 19 years ago at a VA sponsored Winter Sports Clinic, Chris has won 2 golds and a silver medal in previous Paralympic Games. I love this quote given by him to USOC media. . . “being chosen as a flagbearer is an honor I never expected, and didn’t even dream of. I’ll be representing my country in the purest form. It’s not political. It’s not about any gains or any losses. It’s not about being the best country out there. It’s about being a country of the world, and I’m representing my little piece of it.”

Well said, Chris!