Vancouver mayor faces an Olympian handoff
By Gary Mason
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060224.OLYMASON24/TPStory/National/columnists
TURIN, ITALY -- His greatest fear is that a gust of wind will blow the Olympic flag across his face, leaving him feeling disoriented and helpless. And then, to the horror of the 70,000 people watching in the stadium and the hundreds of millions taking it in on television, Vancouver's mayor plunges off the stage in his wheelchair.
"That would not be good," Sam Sullivan said in Turin yesterday.
No, Sam, that would definitely not be good.
Mr. Sullivan discussed his possible nightmare as he revealed to the international press how he plans to accept the Olympic flag from the mayor of Turin, Sergio Chiamparino, during the closing ceremony of the 20th Winter Games on Sunday.
As most of Canada knows, Mr. Sullivan is a quadriplegic. Soon after he won the mayor's job last November, many wondered how he would fulfill one of the key obligations of the position -- travelling to Turin to accept the Olympic flag from its mayor. The handoff is an Olympic ritual dating back to the Winter Games in Oslo in 1952.
Being in a wheelchair and having minimal use of his hands, Mr. Sullivan doesn't have the strength to hold the flag or wave it around the way most mayors do after the handoff. But letting someone fill in for him was not something he considered even for a minute.
This was a 46-year-old guy, after all, who drove a car, skippered a sailboat and flew an ultralight aircraft. Carrying a flag the size of a king-size bed is, by comparison, a piece of cake.
Mr. Sullivan contacted engineers who specialize in outfitting disabled people. They came up with several designs, the winner being a sturdy steel pole holder (with the crest of the city imprinted on it) that they attached to his wheelchair. The shaft of the holder is tilted at a 45-degree angle. Chiamparino will insert the pole in this shaft when he hands the flag off to the Vancouver mayor.
Then it will be up to Mr. Sullivan to wave it.
He did a walk-through of his planned waving technique for the media attending his news conference yesterday. After the flag is inserted in the holder, Mr. Sullivan will move the controllers on his electric wheelchair to make it go quickly to the right and to the left. And voila, it will indeed appear that the flag is being waved.
As long as it doesn't get wrapped around his head.
The Vancouver mayor's arrival in Turin has generated a lot of interest. Not only is he the first quadriplegic mayor of an Olympic city, but the remarkable journey he took to get there is no longer a secret. The Washington Post had a feature writer waiting for Sullivan when he arrived at the airport.
Mr. Sullivan has been in a wheelchair for 27 years after breaking his neck in a bizarre skiing accident. He was trying to ski through a friend's legs when it all went wrong. The next thing he knew, he was lying in hospital, unable to feel much of his body. This drove him into deep depression and a period of poverty and despair.
He considered killing himself several times.
One day when he was contemplating his death, he had an epiphany, of sorts. He realized, he would say later, that not only would he be better off alive, but so would most of the people around him. That is when he began to change his losing ways and chart a new course that would take him to the mayor's chair.
And on Sunday he will climb, or rather wheel, onto one of the greatest stages in the world.
"I think when the world arrives in 2010, people will discover the world is already in Vancouver," Mr. Sullivan said. "Vancouver has one of the most diverse, multicultural cities in the world."
It's also one of the most disabled-friendly, too.
About 60 per cent of Vancouver's streets are curbed in such a way that they allow easy access to people in wheelchairs. Even more will be modified before the Games arrive in Vancouver. Mr. Sullivan would like Vancouver to become a model of a disabled-friendly city.
"I think being disabled allows me to bring a lot of attention to the issues of other people also in wheelchairs," he said in an interview. "But I also think hosting the Olympics will give the city of Vancouver a chance to make a statement and show the world exactly what kind of city it is and what kind of people live there."
Mr. Sullivan made a good impression in Turin by speaking impeccable Italian to everyone he met. Well, the Italians anyway. He apparently worked as hard at learning Italian in the past year as he did learning Cantonese, another language he speaks fluently.
When Mr. Sullivan accepts the Olympic flag on Sunday, the Winter Olympic spotlight will officially shift to Vancouver. The Vancouver mayor says he plans to wave the flag proudly.
As long as he keeps it away from his face.
© Copyright 2006 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
2006-05-09 00:00:00
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