WinterSports2002.com - Embrace Paralympic sports

WinterSports2002.com, Thursday, March 07, 2002

Embrace Paralympic sports

Deseret News editorial

The Paralympics, which kick off Thursday night at an opening ceremony at Rice-Eccles Paralympic Stadium, feature the world's premier athletes with disabilities competing in alpine skiing, ice sled hockey and nordic events. This community looks forward to another opportunity to witness inspiring performances in world-class competition.

As with the recently concluded 2002 Winter Games, this page predicts that Utahns will extend a warm welcome to international athletes, officials and spectators who will take part in the Games. And why not? Utahns always have risen to such occasions. Some 450 athletes representing 36 nations will take part in the Paralympics, which will be staffed, in part, by some 4,200 volunteers.

Although the competition promises to be intense, the Paralympics are a kinder, gentler spectator alternative to the Olympics, which had pricey tickets, long waits in security lines and huge crowds. Tickets sales to Paralympic events have been brisk, which can be attributed to their affordability and the interest in winter sports stirred by the 2002 Games.

Another bonus is that security will not be as great because the Paralympics is not deemed to have a high level of threat, officials have said. That should make for more efficient seating and movement within the venues.

Unlike the Olympics, when light-rail trains were not permitted to transport spectators to Rice-Eccles Stadium for the opening ceremonies, TRAX will provide service to Thursday night's festivities.

These factors should enable many people who could not attend the Winter Games to take part in the Paralympic experience.

For those still unable to attend an event in person, an unprecedented amount of television time will be devoted to these competitions. The cable television network A&E will air 13 hours of Paralympics events, with six of those hours in prime time. NBC will show a one-hour taped special on the opening ceremonies on Saturday, March 9.

This is it, Utahns. When the Paralympics end on March 16, Utah officially pulls the curtain on the Olympic experience. Thus, we urge Utahns to embrace the "pure sport" of the Paralympics.