Tonight begins the Paralympics: the Winter Games of March.
With the seats still warm from the closing of the Olympic Games, the Opening Ceremony for the 2010 Paralympics kick-off ten days of competition. They will be every bit as Olympic as those that preceded them in the Games of February: the one’s that swept Canadians off of their feet.
But, will the world be watching the Paralympics? Will people even be aware of the Games of March?
“Oh, is that tonight?” asks Chris Walker, 28.
Walker, like most of his friends, was glued to his television set for most of the Vancouver Olympics. “Especially the gold medal [hockey] game. You had to be there,” he says.
The same sense of pride is not felt for the Paralympics. “It’s just not the same,” says Julie Reed, 32.
It is not the same. While the spirit of both the Olympics and the Paralympics is a sense of unity amidst adversity, it is not hard to appreciate that those competing in the Paralympics face even greater obstacles; overcome even greater adversity.
They may not soar quite as high, or zip across the ice as fast, as the athletes the world marvelled a few weeks ago; but the achievements to come in the next ten days will be every bit as inspirational as those that came and went in February.
The question is, will people be paying attention to the Games?
Especially these Games: held in Canada. In the land that prides itself on Terry Fox—a man who exemplified the spirit of overcoming adversity and transforming it into achievement, arguably like no other—these Games too could captivate the planet, if given the chance.
The Paralympics on TV
With over fifty hours being televised—including live coverage of both the opening and closing ceremonies and the gold medal sledge hockey match on CTV—there is no reason not to celebrate the Games of March the way people did in February: with fervour and pride.
Paralympic Events
In total 50 countries will compete for medals in sports such as alpine skiing, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling.
There will be 64 opportunities for the athletes to capture glory and for the rest of the world to recapture the childish glee that brought everyone together only weeks ago. Another chance for everyone to congregate in unity and celebration once again.
These may not be the Olympics, but they are the Games. And the Games are here. The question is will will the world be watching, or will this be just another invisible Games: lost to the shadows of the Olympics that came before them?
Join the Conversation