Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Winter 2011/2012 | Page 36

FEATURE
PARALYMPIC GAMES:
THE NEW(ER) KID ON
THE BLOCK
Compared to the centuries-old
Olympics, the Paralympic Games
is a relative newcomer. In 1948, Dr.
Ludwig Guttmann, a neurosurgeon at
Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England,
created the Stoke Mandeville National
Competitions, a wheelchair event to
coincide with the 1948 London Olympics.
Guttmann’s dream was to build a sports
competition for people with disabilities
who come from all over the world.
Four years later, these games became
international when a team from the
Netherlands participated. In 1960,
the first Paralympic Games, with 400
wheelchair athletes from 23 countries,
were held in Rome, Italy. The first Winter
Paralympics took place in Sweden in
1976 and introduced athletes who had
a disability, but were not necessarily
in wheelchairs.
That same year, Canada made
Paralympic history by playing host to
1,600 athletes from 40 countries at the
Summer Paralympic Games in Toronto.
The list of participants opened up to
include athletes with a wider range of
disabilities including amputee, Cerebral
Palsy, intellectual disability, wheelchair
and visually impaired among others.
For athletes though, the real comingof-age for the Paralympic Games may
have been at the 1988 Summer Games
in Seoul and the 1992 Winter Games
in Albertville where competitors were
thrilled to share the same facilities as
those used at the Olympic Games. Even
better, in 2001 a formal agreement was
made to ensure that the Paralympic
Games be held the same year and in the
same facilities as the Olympic Games.

surrounding her leg behind her. “I realized

of Canada’s most successful international

that I had not done things because of my leg,

swimmers with a disability and one of the most

that something else was controlling my life

decorated Canadian athletes ever to compete

decisions,” says Stephanie. “I was recognizing

at the Paralympic Games, has a lot to do with

that my insecurities were getting in the way of

that moniker. Stephanie has won a total of 19

who I am. So, when I got to university, I made the

Paralympics medals, including seven golds.

conscious decision to start over and change.” In

It was her performance at the Paralympics in

order to do that, Stephanie made a commitment

Athens in 2004 that really vaulted her onto the

to herself that she would spend half of her

world stage. It was there that Stephanie earned

time with her prosthetic and the other half on

eight medals and really stood out as a champion.

crutches. She wanted to prove to others and

And, while all Paralympics are fantastic

to herself that while a leg is a functional thing,

experiences, they are not all created equal. Of

the lack of one does not define who she is.

all the medals she has w on, it was the gold in the

“What I learned is that people really don’t care,”

women’s 100-metre backstroke at those 2004

says Stephanie. “That’s when I realized that my

Athens Paralympics that really meant the most.

insecurities are completely self-contained.

It was also the one that Stephanie fought the

That was when I really began to feel comfortable

hardest for. For Stephanie, the Athens games

standing on my own one leg.”

represented the coming of age of Paralympics

Stephanie spent about six and a half years

athletics. It represented stiff competition and

at the University of Victoria and while a BA

deep talent pools. No longer were athletes

in Psychology was her major, swimming was

able to participate simply because they were

her passion. She was named the University’s

disabled. Finally, participation had reached the

Outstanding Female Athlete in her first year.

point where in order for athletes to qualify, they

It was there, in 2002, that she met swimming

needed to be truly elite athletes. “In Athens,

coach Ron Jacks and knew he was the coach

we were a group who really pushed ourselves,”

she wanted to work with. “Ron is the best

Stephanie emphasizes. “We were athletes first.”

able-bodied coach in Canada,” she says. “Many

And, if stiffer competition meant that she was

people believed I was a great athlete for a

taking home fewer gold medals, Stephanie was

Paralympics athlete. Ron believed I was a great

thrilled with the trade-off. “I would much rather

athlete for a swimmer.” Stephanie began training

kill myself to win a race by a millisecond, than

10 times a week and it was at this time that she

easily win by 7 seconds.”

really began to take the international swimming
scene by storm.
Today, Canada is considered a powerhouse
in paralympics and Stephanie Dixon, one

Among the many distinctions Stephanie has
received, she was named Sport BC’s Athlete
of the Year in the Athlete with a Disability
category in 2004, and Swimming Canada’s