Sports Chairperson Profile:
Thor Kleppe

Thor Kleppe is Ice Sport Chairperson. In his full-time position, he is a Managing Director for a company in Norway producing wheelchairs for the elderly and sports equipment for people with disabilities. "The Paralympian" had a chance to interview Thor about his involvement in the sport when he visited the IPC Headquarters in February.

The Paralympian: What developments have there been in ice sport for athletes with a disability?

Thor Kleppe: Ice sport for athletes with a disability started in 1961. There is ice sledge racing and ice sledge hockey. Ice sledge hockey will be featured at the Salt Lake City 2002 Paralympic Winter Games. But ice sledge racing will not be on the sports program for 2002 because it did not meet the criteria—too few nations widely practice the sport. Ice sledge racing was previously featured at the Nagano 1998 Paralympic Winter Games. The main problem is that it is difficult to find 400m tracks, which are not widely available in many nations. Athletes have to travel a long way to cities with this kind of arena. And if you’re an elite athlete, you need to train more than once a week. So ice sledge racing over 400m as it is known is finished. The sport will eventually arrive, but the future rather lies in short track racing. We are now aiming for ice sledge short track racing to be on the Paralympic program for 2006.

TP: Could you then tell us more about short track racing?

TK: Original ice sledge racing started in Norway beginning 1960 and was a demonstration event at Nagano 1998. It was developed by Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands over the years and is now practiced in about 10 countries. The seven biggest practicing nations are Norway, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, USA, Canada and Australia. Short track racing is done in ice hockey arenas and uses the same gear as sledge hockey. Many sledge hockey players also do short track.

TP: Turning to sledge hockey—how did that develop? What can spectators expect at Salt Lake City 2002?

TK: Sledge hockey started in Sweden and Norway. For many years, the sport was practiced by just these two nations, with numerous crossovers between each other. Then Canada and Great Britain started in 1980. The USA and Estonia also came on board later. Sledge hockey is a team sport vital for the Winter Paralympics. It’s a high-action, high-speed and tough sport on the ice. It’s exciting and something that the audience can watch and understand. It uses the same rules as ice hockey, except that it is played 3x15 minutes instead of 3x20 minutes. The time span has to be shorter to cater to players with a disability. Some of the bigger teams are pushing for the 3x20-minute version, although we have to consider the smaller nations with fewer athletes as substitutes to play the 3x20 minutes. It’s a rather new sport, but growing. We need to ensure that all can take part and that there is no big gap between the more established and the newer teams. We might have two groups in the future—one for newcomers and one for more established teams. For Salt Lake City 2002, we expect six teams. We are very happy with the preparations being done by the Organizing Committee. Sledge hockey will use the same facilities and same arenas as ice hockey. The facilities were good in Lillehammer and good in Nagano, but I think we’ll have the best facilities in Salt Lake City.

TP: What have been some of your tasks and responsibilities in developing ice sport?

TK: I worked in Lillehammer for four years with the goal of getting enough nations for ice sport other than alpine and nordic skiing. One of the things I did was to introduce ice sport in Estonia. I remember that quite well. We traveled out 5 to 6 hours by bus to an outdoor arena on a lake. It was 10 degrees Celsius, and the next day, it was too warm and the ice started melting. So we demonstrated the sport indoors, with athletes and sledges on tables. I also helped to start ice sledge racing and hockey in Japan, which now has four teams. I was often in Japan over the last few years for games between Japan and Norway. The sport is growing. Korea started one year ago and has two clubs. Germany, which has been competing at club level the last three years, has three to four teams, and the Netherlands has three teams. Denmark is planning to build a club team.

TP: What are some of the challenges that you face?

TK: Comparisons between winter and summer sports. Winter sports depend on ice and snow, which take time to build up. The equipment is expensive. You need specially-made sledges for athletes with cerebral palsy, paraplegia, double or single amputations. You need protecting gear and special hockey sticks with a shorter blade. Summer sports are bigger and have more athletes. It will take some years for winter sports to be on the same level and criteria as summer sports. It is a challenge for club teams to build a national team, and to organize good competitions at club and national level. And if athletes have no competitions to go to, they get fed-up and stop. One solution is to initially lower the criteria and to allow a national team to be built out of two or three club teams. In Europe, there is a program to have more competitions for club teams. We need to recruit more players and increase the activity level. We need organizers, sponsors, and tournament rules for club teams.

TP: How did you get started in ice sport for athletes with a disability?

TK: A good friend of mine has polio and is a swimmer. I coached in swimming for seven years. Then my friend started doing winter sport. I saw the potential, got invol-ved, and was one of the first to build up the Ice Sports Committee within the IPC. I was involved first at the national level, then as IPC Sports Chairperson, developing the sport since 1973. I studied sports for people with dis-abilities at the university in Sweden and have been exposed to all kinds of sport. I’ve done coaching in archery, athletics, swimming, and now it’s winter sport. The methods and techniques are similar if you want to build up elite athletes.