March 12 - March 21, 2010
Opening Ceremony: BC Place Stadium, Vancouver
Closing Ceremony: Whistler Celebration Site, Whistler

History of the Paralympic Games
The Paralympic Movement has its roots in a sporting competition organized in 1948 by Sir Ludwig Guttman. He was concerned about the many British soldiers returning home from the war in wheelchairs as a result of spinal cord and other injuries. Guttman believed that a sporting event could motivate the soldiers to get moving again. It was a great success, and four years later athletes from the Netherlands joined in. A movement was born.

The first Olympic-style summer games for athletes with a disability took place in 1960, after the Olympic Summer Games in Rome, Italy. In 1976, the first Paralympic Winter Games were convened in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden.

The Paralympic Games showcase the athletic achievements of elite athletes from six different disability groups. During the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, approximately 600 athletes will compete in five sports and more than 60 medal events. These sports include:

Alpine Skiing - Paralympic
Following the end of the Second World War, there was a systematic development of ski sport for persons with a disability, as injured ex-servicemen returned to the sport they loved. In 1948, the first courses for skiers with a disability were offered.

Alpine ski races for athletes with a disability have been held wherever there are snowy mountains since the late 1940s. Up to the 1970s, these races were limited to skiers who could stand, or had a visual impairment. The invention of the mono-ski – a seat fixed on a single ski – opened the sport to athletes who could not stand up to ski. Mono-skis are equipped with short outriggers (forearm crutches with shortened skis attached at the base for balance and steering). Slalom and giant slalom were introduced at the first Paralympics Winter Games in Örnsköldsvik in 1976. Downhill was added to the Paralympic Games in 1984 in Innsbruck, and Super-G was added in 1994 at Lillehammer. Mono-skiing became a medal event at the Nagano 1998 Paralympic Games.

In Paralympic alpine skiing, racers can reach speeds of more than 100 kilometres an hour, traveling down a vertical drop that ranges from 120 to 800 metres. The vertical drop is made even more difficult by a series of gates the skiers must twist and turn to pass through.

In alpine skiing, athletes are classified as standing, sitting, or visually impaired, and compete against other athletes with a similar disability. Skiers with a visual impairment use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers, but ski with a guide. Skiers with locomotive disabilities may either use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers or a prosthesis (an artificial arm or leg) and stabilizers in place of ski poles (stabilizers are a type of crutch with a small ski at the end). Sitting skiers use a mono-ski.

Alpine events for men and women are Downhill, Slalom, Giant slalom and Super G.

Downhill: The downhill features the longest course and the highest speeds in alpine skiing. Each skier makes a single run down a single course, and the fastest time determines the winner.

Super-G: Super-G (for super giant slalom) combines the speed of downhill with the more precise turns of giant slalom. The course is shorter than downhill, but longer than a giant slalom course. Each skier makes one run down a single course, and the fastest time determines the winner.

Giant Slalom: Giant slalom is similar to the slalom, with fewer, but wider and smoother turns. Each skier makes two runs down two different courses on the same slope. Both runs take place on the same day, usually with the first run held in the morning and the second run in the afternoon. The times are added together, and the fastest total time determines the winner.

Slalom: The slalom features the shortest course and the quickest turns. As in the giant slalom, each skier makes two runs down two different courses on the same slope. Both runs take place on the same day. The times are added together and the fastest total time determines the winner.

Super Combined: The combined event consists of one downhill followed by two slalom runs, using a shorter course. The times are added together and the fastest total time determines the winner.

Biathlon – Paralympic
Biathlon was first introduced in the 1988 Paralympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. The shooting system has changed considerably since then when, at the 2002 Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, a new electronic and acoustic system was developed.

In both biathlon and cross-country skiing, athletes are categorized as standing, sitting or visually impaired, and compete against athletes with similar disabilities. Visually impaired skiers use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers but ski with a guide. Standing skiers are skiers with a locomotive disability and who are able to use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers. Sit-skiers usually have no use of their legs (paraplegic) and use a special made sit-ski (a specially built chair attached to a pair of skis).

Biathlon combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting similar to the Olympic biathlon competitions. Paralympic athletes, however, always shoot in a prone position.

In the short distance biathlon, skiers race a 2.5-kilometre loop three times stopping twice at the shooting range where they take five shots at a metal target 10 metres away. Each target has five plates, fixed in a straight row, and the athlete must hit the middle of the target (bull’s eye). The bull’s eye is 15 mm in diameter, and if a competitor misses a plate, they must ski a 150-metre penalty loop for each missed shot. Visually impaired skiers use an acoustic system for shooting that uses differing tones as the rifle is aimed toward the bull’s eye.

In long-distance biathlon, competitors ski the loop five times and stop four times at the shooting range. Missing a target plate can be costly: for every miss, a competitor receives a one-minute time penalty that is added to their overall skiing time.

Biathlon races comprise an interval start format with skiers starting every 30 seconds. The International Paralympic Committee utilizes a Nordic Percentage System in order to equalize the disability time handicap for skiers within each category. The percentage is applied to each skier’s final time, and the skier with the lowest calculated time is the winner.

Cross-country Skiing – Paralympic
Paralympic cross-country skiing was included as an event at the first Paralympic Winter Games in 1976, at Örnsköldsvik, with classical technique events only. Free technique was introduced in 1992 at Albertville.

In both biathlon and cross-country skiing, athletes are categorized as standing, sitting or visually impaired, and compete against athletes with similar disabilities. Visually impaired skiers use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers but ski with a guide. Standing skiers are skiers with a locomotive disability and who are able to use the same equipment as able-bodied skiers. Sit-skiers usually have no use of their legs (paraplegic) and use a special made sit-ski (a specially built chair, called a sledge, attached to a pair of skis).

Racers use two basic techniques in cross-country: classical, where the skis move parallel to each other through machine-groomed tracks in the snow, and free technique where skiers propel themselves in a manner similar to speed skating, pushing off with the edge of their skis.

Free technique uses shorter skis and is slightly faster than classical – on average about 8% faster over an entire race distance. Sit-skiers are unable to alter their technique and use their arms and poles to propel themselves along the parallel tracks in which the skis from their sledges sit.

Paralympic cross-country skiers compete in men’s and women’s individual events over short, middle and long distances ranging from 2.5 kilometres to 20 kilometres. Each race has an interval start with skiers starting every 30 seconds. The International Paralympic Committee utilizes a Nordic Percentage System in order to equalize the disability time handicap for skiers within each category. The percentage is applied to each skier’s final time, and the skier with the lowest calculated time is the winner.

In the relay event, each team member skis one leg of the race. Teams are made up of skiers from different categories, but with the total percentage for each team being equal. This means that no time calculation is required and the first team across the finish line wins.

Wheelchair Curling
Wheelchair curling is a relatively new sport, making its Paralympic debut at the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games. The first World Wheelchair Curling Championships were held in Switzerland in 2002.

Wheelchair curling consists of a single tournament, with each team comprised of both male and female athletes. Two teams play against each other, taking turns pushing 19.1 kilogram stones down a sheet of ice towards a series of concentric rings or circles. The object is to get the stones as close to the centre of the rings as possible.

A game consists of eight “ends” (similar to an innings in baseball). During each end, each four-person team “throws” (in fact, slides along the ice) eight stones – two stones per person and 16 all together. The stones must be thrown while the player’s wheelchair is stationary. Players may use their hands to throw the stone, or use an extender cue that can be attached to the handle of the stone to push it along the ice. The absence of sweeping – the main difference from Olympic curling – makes the strategy and finesse of each throw all the more important.

The team with the most points – with more stones closer to the centre of the rings – at the conclusion of eight ends, is the winner.

Ice Sledge Hockey
Ice sledge hockey was invented at a Swedish rehabilitation centre in the early 1960s, when a group of athletes with a disability decided they wanted to continue playing hockey. The Swedes took two regular ice hockey skates and built a metal frame (called a sledge) to fit on top, with enough room for the puck to pass underneath. Using short poles to propel themselves along the ice, the men played the first ice sledge hockey match outdoors, on a lake south of Stockholm, Sweden. By 1969, Stockholm had a five-team ice sledge hockey league. Ice sledge hockey debuted at the 1994 Paralympic Winter Games in Lillehammer.

Ice sledge hockey follows all the International Ice Hockey Federation rules, with a few small modifications. Instead of standing on skates, players sit on aluminum or steel sledges fitted with two blades. They grip two double-ended sticks, one in each hand. One end of the stick has a sharp pick that the players use to propel the sledge, the other has a curved blade to pass and shoot the puck.

Eight ice sledge hockey teams compete in round-robin tournaments, and top seeded teams from round robin play advance to the playoff rounds. A team must not have more than six players on the ice while play is in progress. The object is for one team to get the puck (a hard black rubber disc) past the other team’s goaltender and into the goal. A regular game consists of three 15-minute periods.