New Zealand Poised for Paralympics

Long considered to be the poor cousin of the able-bodied Olympics, the Paralympics are fast gaining a reputation for excellence in their own right, and with at least 4,000 athletes from 140 countries competing in 19 different sports, they are one of the largest sporting events in the world.

The first athlete to compete for New Zealand will be former Tour de France cyclist Paul Jesson in the 3000m pursuit track race, the same discipline as New Zealand's gold medal winning and world-record breaking Sarah Ulmer. Jesson, who lost a leg in a cycling accident in the lead up to the 1980 Tour de France, will compete on the opening day, and as a former world record holder is a definite medal contender.

Illustrating the closing gap in performance and perception between disabled and able bodied athletes, the New Zealand Paralympic cycling team has been training on most of the same equipment as their Olympic countrymen, left behind specifically for them after the closing of the Athens Olympiad.

Coach Brian Gilbert commented that in the last few years the cyclists have worked in well with the Olympic team, saying that "being able to use their wheels and the other equipment is fantastic".

Another medal hope for New Zealand is Waikato based farmer and field athlete Peter Martin, the shot-put gold medal winner in Sydney four years ago, and world record holder in the shotput, javelin and pentathlon. 42 year old Martin has also been chosen to be New Zealand's flag-bearer in the opening ceremony.

Although it is only a recent innovation that the Paralympic Games have been held in the same city and venue as the Olympic Games, when one considers the Paralympics' countless stories of triumph over seemingly insurmountable adversity, it is perhaps fair to say that it in the field of self-transcendence, it is not only an equal but a superior to its able bodied older brother.