Yes, the second. Many of you have heard and maybe even seen the Paralympics, but I wanted to bring light to it in this blog as a true example of positive living. Now the Olympics are amazing enough with athletes flying through the air and sled around an ice course on their backs and shooting a rifle after racing on skis, it really is crazy and I admire all of them. The personal dedication they each must have to train for 15 years for a 2 minute event is absolutely awe inspiring, but take that one step further. Now take these same events and not be able to use a part of your body – legs, arms, eyes or be in a wheelchair. Talk about dedication!
The Paralympics have been around since 1948 with a vision of one man, Ludwig Guttmann, who organized a competition for WW2 Vets. Since that first game, the number of participants has grown to well over 3000 coming from over 140 countries. Training is hard and as you can imagine, the equipment challenges are incredible.
It really just blows my mind that you see people ski down the mountains going 90 miles an hour on skis and now you get to see custom chairs on skis doing the same feat. Every event has been customized to meet the needs of the game; be it curling, hockey or shooting. It truly is incredible.
Now I hope that my brother will share his experience with us in a blog post as he was able to go to the “able” Olympics a few weeks ago and is thinking of heading up again this weekend for the “amazing” Paralympics.
When you think you can’t take a look at this link -http://www.vancouver2010.com/paralympic-games/ and think again.
These folks are my hero’s this week!
I also know I have a few Canadian Readers, so I want to personally say thank you for hosting these events! You did your country proud!
I am going up to Vancouver again next weekend for the Paralympics and have tickets for both the men's and women's wheelchair curling semi-finals on Saturday, March 20th.
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