With Chicago bidding to host the 2016 Olympics, there's a lot of talk about what President Obama's role should be. One aspect of the story you don't hear as much about is the Paralympics, which will be held in the same city that hosts the Olympic Games.
Paralympian Linda Mastandrea is the director of Paralympic Sport & Accessibility for Chicago 2016. Mastandrea, who won gold and silver medals in Atlanta in 1996 and set a record in the 200-meter race, has also played wheelchair basketball in the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona.
Mastrandrea says:
"What surprises people who have never seen Paralympic sport before is how strong and capable athletes are, how it doesn't matter whether you are missing a limb, your eyesight, or your ability to walk, you can be an amazing athlete. Sport is sport, whether it is played from a wheelchair, with a prosthetic or some other assistive device. Paralympic athletes have the same drive, the same will to succeed and to win, that athletes without disabilities have."
Read about the U.S. Paralympic team and the 2010 games in Vancouver, which will be held March 12-21, 2010.
Read more about the Paralympics and the Chicago bid at the Huffington Post.
No comments:
Post a Comment