Salt Lake City to Celebrate Paralympians

The last few details are being worked on in these days, before a spectacular celebration of Paralympic sport will be staged in Salt Lake City from March 7 to 16. The eighth Paralympic Winter Games – the first Winter Games ever in the western hemisphere  – will showcase powerful competitions to achieve the ultimate goal: a Paralympic Gold medal.

Around 430 athletes from 35 countries will participate in the sports of alpine skiing (downhill, giant slalom, slalom and Super-G), nordic skiing (cross-country and biathlon) and ice sledge hockey.The IPC especially welcomes the delegations from Andorra, Chile, the People’s Republic of China, Greece and Hungary, who participate in Paralympic Winter Games for the first time.

The history of Paralympic Summer Games often refers to specific Games as milestones or turning points. Barcelona in 1992 and Sydney 2000 each brought the Games to a higher level: The degree of athletes’ performance, professional organisation, media coverage and spectator numbers had not been witnessed before. Salt Lake City is now prepared to set up such precedence for the Winter Games, even though the Games of Lillehammer in 1994 and Nagano 1998 had already been a remarkable success.

Organization

The Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) will provide the most professional conditions for the Paralympic athletes to perform at their best. The venues will be the same as for the Olympics.Many of the staff members are some of the most recognized experts in the world of winter sports and the entire Games planning will set a new standard in Winter Games.

SLOC’s vision for these Games is "to provide an environment of excellence, integration and accessibility for participating athletes, team officials and spectators". In addition to the SLOC staff, around 4000 volunteers will be the backbone for a smooth organisation of the Games.

Security will be an issue at the Paralympic Games to a larger extent than it was known before September 11 2001. However, the IPC entirely trusts the hosts of the Games who will do everything in their power to provide the best security – not less than needed and also not more than is required in order to protect the unique atmosphere of a large-scale sporting event.

Participation

As the Paralympics are a fast growing movement, news about record numbers in participation is no real news anymore. In Salt Lake City, this will be different: there will be around 430 athletes competing in the Games, considerably less than at the 1998 Nagano Games. What are the reasons for this development? For the first time in Winter Games, the IPC introduced a qualification standard to guarantee the elite level of Paralympic competitions. It is the IPC’s philosophy to stage elite sport events even at the cost of lower participation. In addition, intellectually disabled athletes will not participate this year.They numbered around 50 athletes in Nagano.The ice sledge hockey tournament will be played with six instead of eight teams. Ice sledge racing did not meet the necessary criteria to be included in the 2002 Games.

Journey of Fire

At the Salt Lake Games, the "Journey of Fire" will replace the traditional concept of a torch relay. It will be a symbolic movement of fire from the outer edges of Utah to Salt Lake City. It was created in order to sustain a high level of excitement in the period between the Olympic Closing Ceremony and the Paralympic Opening Ceremony.

From March 2 to 5, sixteen Utah communities will hold celebrations to ignite the spirit of the Paralympic Games in their community.

These areas range as far south as St. George and as far north as Brigham City. On March 6, all communities will come together in Salt Lake City to light one large cauldron. The next day, 75 Utahns will run with the Paralympic Flame through the streets of Salt Lake City to the Opening Ceremony in the Rice-Eccles Stadium.The question who will have the honour to light the Paralympic Fire during the Opening Ceremony is the best-kept secret within the Paralympic Movement at this time.

Spectators and Media

Around 230 000 spectators are expected to come to the Salt Lake Games. Families big and small will be able to afford to see the Paralympic Winter Games with competition  ticket prices ranging from only US$5 to US$10.

For the majority of Paralympics-fans, who will not be able to come to Utah, the Games will be broadcast on television in around 30 countries around the world. Thanks to the strong request by many broadcasters a live television signal will also be available. Such interest indicates that the times of Paralympics coverage in 5-minute features in health and social programmes finally belong to the past. More than 400 accredited media representatives from agencies, newspapers, magazines, radio and television are committed to provide an exciting sports programme to their different audiences.

The Games can also be experienced real-time on the SLOC Paralympics-Website www.paralympics2002.com. For the first time in Winter Paralympics, not only will live competition results be available, but fans will also be able to see in-depth historical results dating back to the first Paralympic Winter Games in 1976.

Cityscape Programme

Already during the 2002 Olympic Games, the Paralympics are integrated in Salt Lake City’s celebration: as part of one of the largest building banner projects in history, SLOC hung 12 huge banners on downtown buildings. One of those banners, which measures 34 metres high by 32 metres wide, features a Paralympic athlete. "The cityscape building wrap project helps create a look and feel for our Games through the celebration of the spirit of athleticism," said Mitt Romney, SLOC president and CEO. "Portraying a Paralympic athlete shows how these world-class athletes are powerful examples of sport."