Triumph Tinged With Sadness: The Closing Ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympics

            Amid the wonderful job done by the volunteers and those in charge of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympics, there was an air of sadness at Whistler during the Closing Ceremony. The ceremony was certainly a festive, not lugubrious, affair, but it was far from the radiant celebration seen at the Opening Ceremony.  It was an exhale of sorts, and after nearly a month of intense international competition during the Olympics and Paralympics, Vancouver has earned its respite, and its pride at being the home for all the glory and triumph that has transpired.

            Still, the sadness was there.  Perhaps it was in the relief, a relief that comes with the completion of a trying task.  Or maybe it was in the sudden shift from Vancouver, Canada to the site of the 2014 Winter Paralympics, Sochi, Russia that caused a similar shift in emotion, from familiarity to uncertainty.  And within that uncertainty lies a question of comparison: will the Russian fans measure up to the Canadian fans?  Canada is the home of hockey, and one of the very few countries that has a very large audience for curling.  Rarely, if ever, has there been a Paralympics where such a huge percentage of the competition can truly call the host country home.  It is hard to imagine that Russia will do as good a job of embracing Wheelchair Curling and Sled Hockey, sports which at their roots are so intensely followed by and identified with Canada.  Canadians came out in droves to cheer each game of both sports, packing the Vancouver Paralympic Centre for Wheelchair Curling and the UBC Thunderbird Arena for Sled Hockey day after day, and night after night.  Theirs was a passionate embrace, a genuine and deeply felt love for these sports.  The reception that Wheelchair Curling and Sled Hockey received in Vancouver will almost certainly never be topped in future Games until the Paralympics return to Canada.

            It’s true that sadness always enters the arena during a Closing Ceremony, but this sadness is tinged with doubt and uncertainty, and with the notion that this may well have been the best venue for the Winter Paralympics.  It is sad, but perhaps true: it can only go down from here.

            For more coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympics, please visit www.WheelchairSportsFederation.org.