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Carole Mikita Reports (from Eyewitness News at Noon)
The 2002 Paralympic Winter Games that begin Thursday night with opening ceremonies at Rice-Eccles Stadium are nowhere near as big as the just-concluded Olympics.
But Phil Craven, the head of the International Paralympic Committee that oversees the competitions for disabled athletes, doesn't care.
"Big deal. We are who we are," Craven said. "Size-wise, we'll never be as big. There'll never be as many Paralympians in the world as there are Olympians."
During a breakfast meeting with reporters Wednesday, Craven was more interested in making it clear that the Paralympic Games are not about disabilities.
"We are about sports," the wheelchair basketball player said. "If you lose a leg or break your back and become paralyzed, you've only got a problem if your brains were in your feet to begin with."
Craven said there's been some suggestion that the Paralympics should be staged as much as a year before the Olympics, as sort of a trial run.
He said that would take away from the Paralympics, which benefit from being part of a biannual "festival of sports."
Also dismissed was the idea that the Paralympics and Olympics could be held simultaneously.
"We have our own identity," Craven said. "If we were completely combined, we could lose our identity and the (International Olympic Committee) could lose theirs."
The 2002 Paralympics, which include alpine and cross country skiing competitions as well as ice sled hockey, are being staged by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. It's the first time an Olympic organizing committee has also run a Paralympics.
SLOC President Mitt Romney said the cost of the 10-day event is included in the organizing committee's $1.3 billion budget. He estimated the price at $70 million.
Many of the same companies that sponsored the 2002 Winter Games are also helping to underwrite the Paralympics, such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Qwest.
"It's not the do-gooder appeal," Craven said. Instead, he said, companies want to associate with people who have overcome difficulties in their lives.
That's the theme of the sold-out opening ceremonies, which will feature performers Stevie Wonder, Wynonna, Donny Osmond and Louis Gossett Jr.
Massive metal "mountains" erected at the south end of the stadium for the show will be scaled to show that obstacles can be overcome.
Then the flame that has been carried through several Utah communities will be brought into the stadium and used to ignite the same caldron that burned during the Olympics.
The names of the final torchbearers have not been announced, although SLOC creative director Scott Givens said Paralympians will be involved.
The opening ceremonies will not be broadcast live on television. NBC will air an hourlong special on the ceremonies Saturday at noon local time.
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