Paralympic Perspectives: Sir Philip Craven

International Paralympic Committee president, Sir Philip Craven, is a five-time Paralympian for Great Britain in wheelchair basketball and swimming. Sir Craven has many Olympic affiliations as well: he is a member of the International Olympic Committee; on the executive board of the British Olympic Association; a board member of the London 2012 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games; and a founding board member of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The Salt Lake City 2002 Paralympic Winter Games were my first experience of winter sports. My wife Jocelyne, being French, had frequently vacationed to the French Alps during her childhood but not since being married to me. 

I had only been elected to President of the IPC [International Paralympic Committee] some three months before Salt Lake City 2002 and had no knowledge whatsoever of ice sledge hockey, cross-country skiing, biathlon or alpine skiing. The previous 35 years of my life had been devoted to the sport of wheelchair basketball as a player and as an administrator. 

When I was a young boy I loved sports and I also loved reading about sports. One of my favourite characters in my weekly comic, The Victor, was Alf Tupper “the tough of the track”. Maybe I saw myself as one of the toughs of the court when playing basketball but I can tell you that Salt Lake City put a completely new perspective on the meaning of the word “tough.” 

In Salt Lake I could relate to the ice sledge hockey players and also maybe to the cross-country skiers because I was a great believer in stamina training in preparation for international wheelchair basketball tournaments. 

But it was the alpine skiing that blew me away. During the Paralympic alpine competitions at Snow Basin, my wife and I were fortunate enough to be taken up the alpine downhill course. We were accompanied on this journey by Spencer Eccles who was mayor of the Paralympic Winter Village in Salt Lake City and also a most adept alpine skier. 

As we rode up the course on the ski lift I was amazed at the angle that Paralympians came down that slope. It wasn’t 45 degrees. At times it must have been 60 or 70 degrees. And then when we got to the top of the lift we went on a static lift to near the top of the mountain from which we could look down upon the start of the downhill. I can tell you my first thought was that alpine skiers are nuts because it appeared as if at the start they threw themselves off the side of the mountain. 

I spoke previously in this article about the redefinition of the word “tough.” Seeing the alpine skiing events, also redefined for me the word “athletic” and even the word “mad.” 

The Salt Lake City Games was an incredible experience. This impression continued at the IPC World Alpine Skiing Championships in Austria in 2004 and at the Paralympic Winter Games in Torino, which again were fantastic. 

Looking forward to Vancouver and to Whistler in March 2010, we know the runs on Whistler will be death-defying and I can assure you that I will be leaving them to the toughest of the tough — Paralympic alpine skiers. 

 

Paralympic Perspectives is a celebration of the two-year countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. This series comprises personal stories written by Paralympians and leaders passionate about the Games. Visit vancouver2010.com every weekday from March 12 through March 21 for a new story of personal triumph and fierce competition.