Amazing Athletes: An All-Star Look at Canada's Paralympians
CONTENTS OF TABLE The Paralympic Games 4 Jamoi Anderson 8 Billy Bridges 12 Ina Forrest 16 Benoît Huot 20 Alison Levine 24 Richard Peter 28 Chantal Petitclerc 32 Katarina Roxon 36 Ahmad Zeividavi 40 Sandrine Hamel 44 Puisand Lai 45 Wyatt Lightfoot 46 Marissa Papaconstantinou 47 Glossary 48
The paralympic games The Paralympic Games bring together the best high performance athletes with disabilities from many countries They are organized by the International Paralympic Committee IPC which was founded in 1989 This is the Paralympic symbol It represents the motto of the IPC Spirit in Motion Its colours red blue and green are the hues most often found on the flags of the world’s countries The origin of Paralympic The word Paralympic is formed from the prefix para meaning beside or alongside and the word Olympic because the Paralympic Games are held alongside the Olympic Games Since 1988 they have taken place about two weeks after the Olympic Games in the same sports facilities Fair and equitable competition Para sports are a range of sporting activities for athletes with various types of physical visual or intellectual disabilities It is important to ensure that athletes competing against each other have comparable abilities This guarantees that the athletes success is determined by their skills physical fitness endurance concentration and strategic capabilities rather than by the extent of their impairment Each athlete is therefore placed in a category This system is similar to the weight classes in sports such as judo or boxing 4
The father of the Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games owe their start to Sir Ludwig Guttmann a German born doctor who in 1948 organized a competition near London for veterans wounded in the two world wars Sir Ludwig envisaged these games growing into an international event for athletes with disabilities His dream became a reality in 1960 in Rome with what’s now considered the first ever Paralympic Games There athletes competed in 8 different sports now there are 28 and a movement had begun Today the Paralympic Games are held every two years with summer sports alternating with the winter ones sports included in the Paralympic Games Summer PAra SPORTS Boccia Football 5 a side Goalball Para archery Para athletics Para badminton Para canoe Para cycling Para equestrian Para judo Para powerlifting Para rowing Para swimming Para table tennis Para taekwondo Para triathlon Shooting Para sport Sitting volleyball Wheelchair basketball Wheelchair fencing Wheelchair rugby Wheelchair tennis Winter PARA SPORTS Para alpine skiing Para ice hockey Para nordic skiing includes Para biathlon and Para country cross skiing Para snowboard Wheelchair curling 5
