Matthew Belson: Let the real games begin!

Already it seems the 2010 Winter Olympic Games held in Vancouver are but a fleeting memory. Television-viewing sports fanatics have turned their attention back to the regular pro-sports season. Gold medalists from Team USA are making the rounds on TV, doing guest appearances and pitching commercial products.

But just about a week from now one of the most dynamic, exciting and awe-inspiring sporting events will take place in Vancouver in many of the same venues that were showcased on the world stage the last two weeks: the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.

On March 12, athletes from around the world will converge on Vancouver to compete for the gold, silver and bronze medals in traditional winter sports such as alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and biathlon. The only thing that is different is that these athletes compete with physical disabilities such as spinal cord injuries, amputated limbs and sight impairments.

To enable them to compete, athletes use adaptive techniques and equipment to propel themselves over the ice or down a steep slope. Alpine skiers with a spinal cord injury use a mono-ski and short skis on their poles as outriggers. An alpine or cross-country skier who is blind is guided by a sighted teammate and coached when to turn around a gate or sprint up a hill. Sled hockey players sit on sleds with blades and use short sticks to push themselves and shoot the puck.

The first Paralympics style games were held in Rome in 1960 and are always held during an Olympic year. Just like the Olympics, there is an international governing board for the games, the International Paralympic Committee. In the United States, Paralympic sports fall under the auspices of the U.S. Olympic Committee and making the U.S. Paralympic team is just as competitive as the Olympic team.

On Feb. 26 the U.S. Olympic Committee announced the 50-Paralympic athletes who will head to Vancouver to represent Team USA. 

Among the athletes on Team USA are five military veterans. With the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. Olympic Committee Paralympic Military Program is coordinating with the U.S. military to develop specialized adaptive sports and fitness programs for injured and disabled veterans.

“We expect our 2010 team to be competitive with some Paralympic champions, Paralympic rookies, and two Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom veterans who make up the Vancouver team,” said Charlie Huebner, chief executive officer for U.S. Paralympics. “Our biggest challenge as a nation moving forward is to increase team depth through our emerging programs that we launched in December 2009 and continue increasing support to our elite national teams.”

Almost 10 years ago I had the chance to travel to Sydney, Australia, to cover the 2000 Paralympic Games.

Most of my time was spent on Sydney Harbor following the sailing competition, where athletes with different disabilities raced in 23-foot Sonar or single-handed 2.4 meter boats. I also covered the Quad Rugby games where the athletes, many of whom were quadriplegics, crashed into each other in reinforced wheelchairs as they tried to score a goal.

One of the first realizations most people experience when watching elite-level Paralympic sports is that it’s all about the game and how it’s played. The excitement, the emotion, the athleticism and the skill is just as intense as any able-bodied competition.

As a journalist, getting to know and speak with Paralympic athletes was an equally memorable experience. For many of these athletes much has been sacrificed to elevate their performance and proficiency to an elite level. Corporate sponsorships for individuals are few, and most athletes must juggle their year-round training and competition schedule while also working full time, going to school, being parents and other family responsibilities.

You could argue that the Paralympics is truly the world showcase for amateur sports.

It’s unfortunate that in the United States you’ll be hard pressed to find network coverage of the 2010 Paralympics at even a fraction of the media attention afforded to the Olympics. But with the reach of the Internet you can find videos and stories of next week’s games.

As for me, I’ll be searching for stories and rooting for Team USA whose Paralympians might just beat their able-bodied counterparts in the medal count.

Cape Codder writer Matthew Belson can be reached at mbelson@cnc.com