With Glowing Hearts/
Des plus brillants exploits

Motto for both the 2010
Winter Olympic Games and
the Paralympic Games

Like Canada, the Olympic Games use both English and French as official languages, and the motto is divided into English and French. Both parts are taken from the Canadian national anthem and loosely mean, “With glowing hearts at really brilliant exploits.”

This slogan is a tribute to all the Olympic athletes who have to perform brilliantly and heroically to make it to the Olympics.

Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee, says, “The paralympic movement inspires people with or without a disability to interact in the same global family, enjoy equal social rights and build a harmonious world together.”

The name “paralympic” is derived from the Greek word “para” which means “beside or alongside.” This refers to the competition being held along side the Olympic games. The Paralympic Games take place in the same venue and about two weeks after the Olympic Games conclude.

The precursors to the Paralympic Games were begun by Dr. Ludwig Guttmann of Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1948. Dr. Guttmann organized a sports competition for British World War II veteran patients with spinal cord injuries. The movement grew until in 1960 it opened in Rome as the first Paralympic Games. It became a sports event for elite athletes with a physical disability or vision impairment.

Paralympics emphasize the participants’ athletic ability, not their disability. These games stand for hope and offer possibilities for athletes all over the world.

The 2010 Winter Paralympics officially known as the X Paralympic Winter Games will open in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia March 12 and conclude March 21. The first Winter Paralympics were held in 1976 in Sweden, making the 2010 Games the tenth to be celebrated.

These Winter Paralympics include the following sports: Alpine skiing; Ice Sledge Hockey—also known as Ice Sled Hockey in the United States; Nordic skiing, including Biathlon and Cross Country skiing; and Wheelchair Curling. Forty countries will be sending 1, 350 Paralympic athletes and officials to participate.

The mascot for the 2010 Winter Games is Sumi, an animal guardian spirit with the wings of the Thunderbird and the legs of a black bear. This is the first time the Olympics and Paralympics mascots were introduced at the same time.

Sumi

All the athletes competing will be amazing heroes, but we will highlight a few for you to look forward to following.

Brian McKeever is a cross country skiier who has limited vision due to Stargardt’s disease. He had hoped to participate in the Winter Olympics and the Paralympics but rated behind four teammates in the Olympic tryouts. Brian’s spirit is exemplified in his statement, “Not a day goes by where I don’t wish that I saw better. And yet it’s made me who I am. It’s a part of who I am, and I like the person that I am.”

Ralph Green

Ralph Green grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and describes himself as “ghetto fabulous.” Ralph is built like a linebacker and saw himself playing in the NFL someday. But one night when he was 16, Green was the victim of a random street shooting. After his left leg was amputated at the hip he thought his future as an athlete was over.

A couple of years after being introduced to skiing he decided to pursue it. At 22, he caught an Amtrack with $300 in his pocket and headed for Winter Park, Colorado. With the help of National Sports Center for the Disabled he found lodging and was welcomed into a program.

Sometimes he didn’t have enough money for food, and his roommate would share his with him. Green never forgot this kindness.

Ralph has worked hard and found his own sponsors. To help pay back his roommate, Carl Burnett, who saw to it that Green was not without food, he helped Carl find a sponsor too. Green also works with the National Brotherhood of Skiers which promotes skiing among minorities, and he often speaks to schoolchildren in Brooklyn. Ralph knows he’s an ambassador to his sport.

He had an opportunity to play a role in an independent movie, “Gospel Hill.” Green enjoyed this, especially getting to work with Danny Glover.

But, now he says he’s the ski racer.

Ralph knows he has a chance to make a difference. “If people can take something from what I’m doing, and it can help in any way, then I’m doing my job as a Paralympian and as an active leader in today’s society.”

Jacqui Kapinowski/Wheelchair Curling

Jacqui Kapinowski is a champion wheelchair racer and has completed 52 marathons. But, in 2007 she was introduced to wheelchair curling. Jacqui joined a club and helped exhibit the sport. She also worked to introduce wheelchair curling to interested athletes. This year, Jacqui is on the Paralympic team in Vancouver.

Taylor Chace

Taylor Chace was once a Junior Olympic level hockey player, but at the age of 16 he was injured when he slid into the boards of a hockey rink and shattered the L-1 vertebrae in his spinal cord. He was left partially paralyzed, but with months of physical therapy and an indomitable spirit he learned to walk and play sledge or sled hockey. Taylor is majoring in sports studies at the University of New Hampshire and hopes to coach hockey at a high level in the future. Follow him on the USA Sledge Hockey team.

Caitie Sarubbi

Caitie Sarubbi has just begun her freshman year at Harvard University and in addition to her academic studies, she also ski races fulltime in an effort to compete in the Paralympics at Vancouver.

Caitie was born with a rare syndrome called Ablepharon Macrostomia Syndrome which means she was born with no eyelids. After numerous surgeries she is visually impaired, but obviously her spirit is not impaired.

Sarubbi is the daughter of a New York firefighter who was on duty September 11, 2001. He was honored at the Hartford Ski Spectacular in Breckenridge, Colorado, and took his daughter Caitie. She was only 11 at the time, but decided to have an athletic career in skiing. Read about Caitie Sarubbi when the Paralympics begin.

The television coverage in Canada will be the best ever. Fifty hours will be devoted to following the Paralympics and a documentary will be shown on the final day. To check on coverage in the United States, click on www.USParalympics.org. You can also sign up for daily reports.

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