The Paralympic games have officially begun! Canadian athletes will again take to the ice and slopes in Sochi, hoping to bring back the gold to Canada. The Paralympic sports that Canadians will be partaking in are: alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, para-snowboarding, wheel chair curling and the all-time favourite, sledge hockey.
Paralympians are dynamic athletes who have faced adversity and have chosen to believe that “it’s not what’s missing, it’s what’s there”, the motto that the Canadian team has taken as their own for the Sochi games.
Kevin Rempel, one of Canada’s leaders in sledge hockey, was left paralyzed after a dirt biking accident. He was told he would never walk again. Not only has Kevin represented Canada internationally as a member of the Canadian sledge-hockey team, he proved the doctors wrong and with intense rehabilitation, is able to walk again.
Canada has sent a strong team of athletes who will be podium contenders in all of the sports seen at Sochi. In Vancouver, Canada’s Paralympic team placed third overall, earning 19 medals, 10 of which were gold.
McLeish Orlando wishes our Canadian athletes the best of luck in Sochi. Go Canada Go!