If the Winter Olympic Games were a sequin-encrusted mammoth, the Paralympics are a lithe antelope, equally stunning without taking up as much space.
Part two of Utah's date with the world's elite athletes arrived at the Salt Lake City-County Building Wednesday evening to a crowd that was smaller than last month's gathering for the Olympic torch ? but matched earlier enthusiasm.
The Paralympics' Journey of Fire torch relay, in the form of 15 lanterns carried by residents from as many Beehive State communities, reached the stage at dusk to light the torch held by Paralympic champion Candace Cable. As Cable read the Paralympics proclamation to "awaken the mind, free the body and inspire the spirit," fans from St. George, Park City, Woods Cross and a dozen other towns warmed to the new flame.
"We're still the host city, and we're loving it," said Mayor Rocky Anderson. He urged Utahns to "show the world that the inspirational spirit of the Paralympics is well and alive in Salt Lake City."
Thursday morning, a wet start to the torch's Journey of Fire didn't douse that spirit.
"Nothing could possibly put a damper on this day for me," said torchbearer Francisco Galdamez, 32, of Folsom, Calif. Galdamez, paralyzed from a gunshot wound, equipped his wheelchair with treaded tires knowing rain or snow was a possibility.
The sun played peekaboo in the sky just before Anderson dipped the first torch into a burning caldron at the City-County building to start the daylong relay that will end Thursday night at Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium to mark the start of the 2002 Paralympics.
Anderson handed the torch to Tyler Wilkinson, 29, of St. George, whose father-in-law, Ray Orton, pushed his wheelchair out to State Street. "It was a great experience, no question," said Wilkinson, who became a quadriplegic in a car accident 11 years ago. "I'm grateful for the experience."
At Wednesday night's celebration, it was clear Salt Laker Stephanie Harpst had caught the Paralympic spirit. She's going to the opening ceremonies Thursday night ? she just bought tickets Tuesday. And she's working on her husband about catching a skiing competition Sunday at Soldier Hollow.
After the Olympics, she said, "Everyone said they felt let down. I don't feel that way at all. It felt too short to me."
Marge Housekeeper of Bountiful went five times to Olympic Square, and that wasn't enough. She's ready for the Paralympics' less-costly tickets and for the "less-stressful" logistics of getting to events. And "I'm not tired at all."
One who admitted to being "a little" tired Wednesday was Mitt Romney. The Salt Lake Organizing Committee president inched through the crowd, signing autographs, posing for pictures and answering shouts of "Mitt! Mitt!" before reaching the stage.
But as he's done since arriving in Utah three years ago, Romney rallied. "I get energy from you," he told his adoring audience. "We're going to have great Games ? again."
Joyce Fairbairn, a Canadian senator who accompanied her nation's 27 Paralympians to Salt Lake City this week, looked ahead to the 10 days of competition. "These are absolutely the finest athletes in the world. They don't get the recognition they truly deserve," she said. Try putting conventional pro hockey players on the ice with the Canadian Paralympic sledge hockey team, for example. "They have huge upper body strength, and they're a lot of fun to watch. . . . The (National Hockey League) players could barely keep up."
"These are some of the finest models anywhere for our children," Fairbairn said of the Paralympians. "Kids have been told they can't ski or skate or play hockey or run. Thanks to these athletes, we can say now, 'Yes, you can.' "
Romney acknowledged that the Paralympics don't receive as much attention as the Olympics. He said that's perhaps because fewer spectators can identify with athletes with disabilities such as paralysis or an amputated limb. But one doesn't have to share the same limitations to be inspired by such an athlete, the SLOC leader said. "In athleticism, there are three common elements: the dream . . . the striving . . . and the conquering."
E-MAIL: durbani@desnews.com ; romboy@desnews.com