Beijing Paralympics: Canada Looks To Remain a World Leader

By Rachal Fleury and Mary Beth Walker

Have you ever seen Patrick Anderson drop a three-pointer at the buzzer or Chantal Petitclerc race to a record in the 800 meters?

If not, you’re missing out on some great sport. Patrick Anderson is a member of Canada’s double-gold medal winning Paralympic team and is considered the world’s best wheelchair basketball player, while Petitclerc is a legend in wheelchair racing.

The upcoming Beijing Paralympic Games, running from Sept. 6-17, is the premiere sporting event for high performance athletes with a physical disability. About 140 Canadian athletes, supported by about 120 staff, will venture to Beijing to compete.

The Paralympic Games now occur in conjunction with the Olympics every two years in the same city and at the same venues. The Paralympic Games morphed out of the Stoke Mandeville Games, the first organized sport competition for athletes with a physical disability. Dr. Lugwig Guttmann staged the first Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948 as part of his efforts to use sport in the rehabilitation of soldiers who were injured in World War II.

Paralympic athletes are just like Olympians, except that they have a physical disability, such as a visual impairment, an amputation, a spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy or other. They compete in classes with other elite athletes with similar physical disabilities.

“Paralympic sport is about sheer athletic determination and skill,” said Debbie Low, the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s 2008 Beijing Games Chef de Mission. “We’re looking forward to being inspired by Canada’s elite-level athletes with a physical disability as they compete at the upcoming Paralympic Games.”

There are 20 summer sports, including rowing which makes its debut in Beijing. Most of the sports are modified versions of able-bodied sports at the Olympic Games, but there are four unique Paralympic summer sports: boccia, goalball, powerlifting and wheelchair rugby (formerly called murderball).

In Beijing, Canadian athletes will compete in archery, athletics, wheelchair basketball (men’s and women’s), boccia, cycling, equestrian, wheelchair fencing, goalball (men’s and women’s), judo, powerlifting, rowing, wheelchair rugby, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis and wheelchair tennis. Canada will not take part in sitting volleyball, five-a-side football, and seven-a-side football.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?