Winter Paralympics heats up

Russia may have again welcomed a large number of athletes to Sochi for the Winter Paralympics although the volume of visiting dignitaries has diminished significantly in protest at the host nation’s ongoing interest in Crimea, Ukraine, situated approximately 300 miles away from Sochi.

At one point there was a serious doubt that Ukraine’s strong contingent would participate although fortunately those were dispelled as the 23 representatives waived their boycott although still made their point as only biathlete, Mykailo Tkachenko, was present at the opening ceremony as he raised their flag to thunderous applause with pride at the formal commencement on Friday.

Opened again by Vladimir Putin, 575 athletes, competing for 72 gold medals, from 45 countries paraded around the Fisht Olympic Stadium.

The Winter Paralympics, first held in 1976, has been steadily growing in popularity and the contingent in Sochi is the largest ever seen at this event.

There are five main events, namely alpine and Nordic skiing, biathlon, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling. Within the sport of alpine skiing, snowboard cross for athletes with lower-limb disabilities is making its debut.

There are many sub-categories with alpine skiing, for example, having five disciplines. There are also three level of competition for each discipline, catering for the visually impaired, standing and sitting positions.

Amongst the first time nations participating are Brazil, Turkey and Uzbekistan.  However, amongst many neutrals (willing to ignore the politics) there is a hope that Russia will do well in order to encourage attitudes to change towards the physically-impaired.

There has been an upsurge in performance since Russia was awarded the Games. Having made their Paralympic debut at Innsbruck in 1988 where they won two bronze medals, in Vancouver in 2010 they finished second to Germany with 12 gold medals, although topped the ‘total medal’ table preferred by America!

Russia certainly started well, leading from the front with a startling 12 medals on the opening day alone, of which four were gold, all secured in the biathlon.

These sports may sound familiar although the reality is a world apart as organisers look to cater for a variety of disabilities including limb and visual.  Ice hockey is on sledges that specifically allow the puck to slide underneath the athlete.

One of the more bizarre events is biathlon for the visually impaired. Allowing someone to shoot a rifle without being able to see the target may seem like a crime although they are guided by audio aides that tell them when they are on target.

Blind skiers, who deserve tremendous credit for hurling themselves down slopes that have drawn criticism for their severity, receive instructions through headsets as they hurtle downhill at speeds exceeding 80kph and wear contrasting clothing to make it easier for their guides to see them! Unsurprisingly, there were a large number of fallers with many failing to make it to the bottom of the course.  At least they made it – former British soldier, Mick Brennan, mirroring the actions of Shaun White in the Winter Olympics last month, withdrew from his event citing the conditions as ‘too scary’.

The women’s visually-impaired downhill presented the first gold medal of the Games to Slovakia’s Henrieta Farkasova. Silver was won by Britain’s Jade Etherington, guided by Caroline Powell, providing her nation with their first Winter Paralympic alpine medal for 20 years.

Of the athletes to watch there are a number who regularly switch disciplines from summer to winter codes.
 
One of the most decorated has to be the American standing skier, Allison Jones, who will be competing in her fourth Winter Paralympics which has brought a haul of one gold and two silver medals. However, she has achieved greater success in the velodrome as her cycling exploits have brought four medals including three in London in 2012. She does face stiff competition from favourite, Marie Bouchet (France) and Andrea Rothfuss (Germany).  Indeed Bouchet claimed gold to Jones’s bronze in the standing downhill.

Another American to watch will be Tatyana McFadden who has one of the more intriguing and sentimental stories of the Games. Rescued from a Russian orphanage at the age of six by American parents, she will be returning to the land of her birth to compete having spent less than two months training on snow.

If she is successful in her chosen events of cross-country and biathlon she will seal a reputation as one of the most versatile having secured 10 Paralympic medals at distances ranging from 100m to the marathon. In 2013 she won six gold medals at the World Championships and won all four Grand Slam marathon events.

If the host nation is to mirror its table-topping success at the Olympics they will hope that Nikolay Polukhin is on form. 

In Vancouver he brought home more medals than anyone with one gold, four silver and one bronze. 

He will hope that the home crowd can urge him past the dominant figure in Paralympic Nordic skiing, Brian McKeever. That was certainly not the case in his first race, the 7.5km biathlon. Some may believe it is fitting given the situation in Crimea, but this race was won by Ukrainian, Vitaliy Lukyanenko.

While Oscar Pistorius, currently in the headlines for all the wrong reason, brought massive global attention to the capabilities of less-abled athletes, McKeever has achieved arguably more on the slopes.

This remarkable Canadian made history in 2010, becoming the first person in history to be selected for both the Olympic and Paralympic teams. Having won the 15km trial he was unfortunate to miss out on selection and will be hoping to make amends in the 1km and 20km events.

Another to have raised the bar is Dutchwoman, Bibien Mentel-Spee, who has dominated the new snowboard cross events. Her time in the test event in Sochi would have been sufficient to earn her a silver medal in the men’s race!

With much of the attention surrounding Russia relating to their involvement in Crimea, let’s hope that the athletes receive the credit they deserve which, in turn, can improve attitudes towards the less-abled in the region.