Paralympics – Friday, March 19
Wow, this morning we get to go see the Paralympic medals! It was a private viewing for sponsor families. It was really neat not to have to wait in line to go see them. They are beautiful. The design was created by a local artist. It represents a raven if all of the medals are placed together. They are made of recycled materials in the inside and gold, silver and bronze on the outside. They weigh quite a lot.
Then off we went to see the men’s Super G competition. The favorite was a German named Schonfelder. My mom told me he has won something like 28 medals in his Paralympic career. Of course he won once again! It was amazing to watch him race – he was so fast.
In the background of the interview picture you can see that the medics are attending to someone that had just wiped out. There had been 3 wipe outs in a row all in the last 30 metres or so of the race. It was really scary. Fortunately, they all were able to get up on their own after a few minutes.
Between races they interviewed an American from Brooklyn that was competing. Everyone laughed when he said he was from Brooklyn. I asked my mom why and she said because there are no mountains in New York City. He has had to travel quite a distance to train in order to qualify for the Paralympics. Wow, what dedication he has. He said that he has become an inspiration for a lot of the kids in his neighborhood – I can believe it.
After the races were over we went to the Whistler Paralympic Athletes Village. What a beautiful job they did designing this area for the athletes. It was much nicer than the one in Torino. It was a bit of a drive though from the center of Whistler.
There was a lounge area. They had about 20 Wii’s set up in there. Wow, I wish I could have played for a bit!
We also went into the cafeteria. They had food stations with all types of food from around the world. They even had a McDonald’s in there. We had some french fries! They sure were good.
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- The back of a medal. It has Braille on it so that the visually impaired athletes can tell what the medal is for. The Olympic medals do not have this.
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- The Medals are made from recycled materials.
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- An American athlete getting interviewed near us.
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- Skiing scoreboard
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- Whistler Paralympic Athletes Village
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- This is a building where the athletes sleep – you can tell which country they are from by their flag that is hanging outside.
When we were leaving we saw Brian McKeever. My mom suddenly became a paparazzi! She wanted to ask him for a picture but my dad said that inside the village we weren’t allowed to do this. She was really bummed out about that. Anyway, it was neat to walk within a few feet of a great athlete!
[All-star reporter and Mulgrave School Grade 5 student, Alessia, is reporting to Our Kids about her Paralympic experience. For an introduction to the story click here.]
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