Sports base will eventually grow
Some events, such as bobsled and skeleton, need more development before reaching big stage
SOCHI, Russia — There has been plenty of outrageous sliding in Sochi, mostly from hardcharging alpine sit skiers and single- leg amputees intent on creating video for World’s Greatest Crashes.
What you won’t see in Pyeongchang, Korea, at the 2018 Paralympic Games is any practised sliding — as on a skeleton sled or in a modified bobsled.
But para- sliding sports are likely to be on the schedule for 2022.
It seems there are fearless paraplegics and leg amputees out there who think hurtling down an ice- covered concrete chute at 120- 130 kilometres an hour is just another way to diss their disability.
“I think even for the ablebodied version of the sport, you have to be a bit defective to try these things,” says John Rosen, chair of the para- sport committee for FIBT, the governing body for bobsled and skeleton.
“But you know what, the camps we’ve had ( in Calgary, Park City, Utah, and Igls, Austria), the enthusiasm and the interest has been phenomenal.”
Alas, the International Paralympic Committee decided a few months ago that the adaptive disciplines aren’t far enough along in structure and numbers. It has told the FIBT to petition again for the 2022 Winter Games.
“Of course it was disappointing ( not to get in for 2014), but I’ve talked to the IPC representatives and I completely and fully understand what it is that they’re looking for and what work we have to do,” said Rosen.
“We’re just going to focus our efforts on building a sport that is vibrant and vital for athletes with a disability.”
The IPC is keen to add more sports to a light Winter Paralympic program. The first Games in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, in 1976 had 198 athletes from 16 countries competing in just para- alpine and paraNordic.
In Sochi, there is still competition in just five sports — para- alpine and para- Nordic/ biathlon, sledge hockey ( in since 1994), wheelchair curling ( 2006) and snowboarding ( 2014).
But the IPC doesn’t want to rush in new sports before they’re fully established. And the FIBT, which only started actively promoting para- skeleton and para- bob sled a couple of years ago, still needs to work out issues around classification, rules and equipment.
“One of the biggest concerns is that it is done right,” says Todd Nicholson, a retired Canadian sledge hockey captain and current chairman of the IPC Athlete’s Council.
“We want to ensure that the sport is developed and that you’re not using the Paralympics to develop it. The Paralympics is high- level, high- intensity sport and that’s what we want to showcase. Your world championships and your other stuff, that’s where you develop the sport.”
Nicholson played a key role in helping FIBT get its adaptive programming off the ground. In 2012, at the age of 42, he was the first paraplegic to do skeleton runs on the track in Park City.
“I used to watch it on TV and ( the able- bodied athletes) get to the bottom and you’d see them huffing and puffing and you’re thinking ‘ Honestly? Really? Gravity brought you down there, how could it be that hard?’ Until I did it.”
Nicholson, who used a small sled attached to the skeleton sled to keep his paralyzed legs off the ice, said he could only manage four runs a day.
“The adrenalin rush, the amount of G forces that you hit going around a couple of the corners ... my neck couldn’t take it.”
Like Rosen, Nicholson believes there will be no shortage of paraplegics, leg amputees and those with vision impairment ( as the pusher on a two- man sled) eager to try the sport.
“Once they do it once, the adrenalin rush will get them,” said Nicholson. “The bug will get them.”
Rosen said there are currently four countries “actively engaged” in para- sliding — Canada, the U. S., Great Britain and Latvia. He said major bobsled powers like Germany, Switzerland and Russia were so focused on the 2014 Olympics that they didn’t have time to take on adaptive programs until now.
“We think that the interest and engagement will grow rapidly as we finalize the definition of the sport and get a competition fully established.”
An IPC official also said this week that the organization would also like to see women’s sledge hockey added to the schedule in the next decade. Nicholson and the athlete’s council is encouraging countries with hockey teams at Sochi “to go back home and get as many women playing as you can.”
Nicholson also suggested that ski cross and other X Games- birthed disciplines could also find a home at the Paralympics.
“You see the mono ski riders come down those X Games runs and some of the crazy stuff they’re doing and it’s only a matter of time.”
Nicholson was on the Canadian sledge team when that sport made its Paralympic debut at Lillehammer in 1994 with just five countries involved.
The games barely drew a couple of hundred fans for round robin games back then, but now it is easily the most popular of the Winter Paralympic sports.
Crowds of 5,000- plus have been the norm in Sochi. And the IPC says media interest is higher than ever.
With significant improvements in sled, blade and stick technology, the game is far quicker and more entertaining today. The hitting often surprises people who see the game for the first time and players can take wrist shots that are as fast as those produced by ablebodied players.
A Canadian high- performance team has also been at the forefront of new technology that has greatly improved control in alpine sit- skiing.
Instead of using all- terrain vehicle shocks, the team, headed by engineer Joe Franklin, is using mountain bike shocks mounted in an easily adjustable carbon- fibre frame.
“Bottom line is it makes it a smoother ride, more consistent and it’s safer for me to challenge the racing line,” says sitskier Josh Dueck, who has won two medals — gold and silver — in Sochi.
Dueck said it took him a while to catch up with the technology. “Timing is in my favour right now. I’m just starting to catch up with it consistently.”
Wheelchair curling has also made big strides in just eight years.
“The level of play has improved tremendously,” says Canada’s Sonja Gaudet, who won gold in 2006 and 2010 and will try to make it three in a row in Sochi.
“We’re seeing shots that we wouldn’t have seen before. And just the knowledge. Many of the players initially came to the game maybe not having played able- bodied curling before. There’s a huge learning curve and you definitely see how much people have picked up on the different strategy over the eight years.”