Vancouver Blogger Sriseth

2010 Winter Paralympic games are coming to an end. With fresh memories of Winter Olympic games still around the city, there were fans cheering Paralympians at the venues and around downtown Vancouver and Whistler during last few days. Still, I can't help my self wondering whether we missed a great opportunity to truly embrace the Paralympics and showcase another historical event. Vancouver games may be better than previous Paralympics at Turin and some previous Winter Paralympics in many ways. But can we satisfy ourselves with just that. After all Canada is the nation that continue to provide inspiration to disabled people all over the World with amazingly talented and gifted individuals like Terry Fox, Rick Hansen and Michael J. Fox.

When former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan, a quadrapeligic, accepted the Olympic flag at Turin to host the next games in Vancouver, the whole World saw the social acceptance of disabled people in Canada. The image of Sam Sullivan twirling the giant Olympic flag from his wheel chair inspired millions of disabled and able people alike. It gave a more defining meaning to the Vancouver Paralympics that were to be followed by the Olympics. This is why we cannot just be satisfied by hosting just an average Paralympic games. This is the first time Canada is hosting a Paralympic after the famous Marathon of Hope, the defining event of disabled people all over the World. (In 1988, Calgary did not to host the Paralympics followed by the it's Winter Olympics due to "financial and recruiting difficulties" - the last time Olympic and Paralympic events were hosted in different cities) After the tremendously successful Winter Olympics, it was a great opportunity for Canada to stage the greatest sporting event for disabled and get the World to appreciate the true spirits of disabled people.

So, why did we waste the opportunity? Who is to blame? Was it due to lack of resources available for the organizers? Didn't the governments fund these games enough? Or is it due to poor planning? In my opinion none of those were the real reason. It was because we set our goals low and did not envision a paralympic that will set the bar for future. We did not expect huge support from Canadians. We did not even expect such a great performance from Canadian athletes. Paralympic broadcasters lead by CTV only wanted to air few sledge hockey games live. They had no plans to broadcast even the opening ceremony until the last minute protests changed their mind to show it live at least in BC. European TV has shown most of the events live from Vancouver. I believe CBC would have done a better job had they been awarded the TV rights of Paralympics.

When you look back at 2010 Winter Olympics and try to figure how it became a great success and made a memorable mark in World sports, you can see it was the people effect that mattered. The whole Canada embraced it so overwhelmingly, the World could not ignore. Did anyone envision it before the games? I don't think so. Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium lead by CTV did a great job in bringing the games to living rooms across Canada. The games generated sensational energy and brought all Canadian together since the Marathon of Hope 20 years ago. But CTV backed down to do the same for Paralympics. I know their decisions are driven by commercial interests. But how can you envision people's reaction without providing the opportunity. Had the Cable TV was more proactive and broadcast the great moments of Lauren Woolstencroft winning record 5 gold medals, visually impared skier Brian McKeever winning triple golds and Wheenchair curlers overcome later resurgence from South Koreans to win gold in a dramatic match, wouldn't the Canadian across the nation embrace these games much more. It is different when you watch a highlights package later.

Different people can have various opinions about this. But I cannot help thinking about the missed opportunity. Canada has grown as a nation bound together with great empathy towards under-privileged and inspired by great stories of individual fortitude of overcoming disabilities. Each of these Paralympians has an inspiring life story of their own that they would like to share with the rest of the nation. When you embraced all those stories you can put things into perspective to understand that anyone is just a single unfortunate moment away from becoming disabled. It is that deep understanding which makes a great nation of citizens who are prepared  fight for the rights of disabled. It is unfortunate and ironic that this international event failed match the individual efforts of Rick Hansen and Terry Fox to make an effect on Canadians (and the World) on how they perceive disabled individuals. Canada has failed to capitalize on this great opportunity.