at the olympics, walking out to theopening ceremony, it's what, 40,000-50,000 people. it's like being an all black i guess. right here, right now, yes,skiing is everything about my life. i'm a professional in what i do,it's basically my job, it's my full time job, i probably work2-3 times harder than any full-time employee. or business owner out therein the community, so basically what i do, i do it for free,i do it for the love and the passion. it will mean a lot to me to even beat the winter paralympics to show
myself that i can stick at something. how much i want to push myself,that's the only barrier that there is between now and the paralympics.so it's all up to me. paralympics skiiers adam halland peter williams are dogged and determined to stand on the podiumat this year's winter paralympics in vancouver. just stepping of the start lineis a victory. the culmination ofyears of hard grind. adam hall will be the most severelydisabled athlete racing against the standing skiiers at this year'sparalympic games in vancouver, canada.
adam's spina bifida means he has no feeling in the lower half of his legs. and no sensationin his feet whatsoever. yet he skis with precision. many scratch their heads as to how he does it. i always get told that i'm stupidand i shouldn't carry on and shouldn't do this and that. you know, when i broke my kneei strapped it up with gaffer tape and kept on going.
he's going into the world eventwith a ruptured knee, yet rank world #2. peter williams is new zealand'ssecond skiing wonder. born with spina bifida,doctors never expected he'd live. peter's level of disabilitymeans he competes from a sit-ski. you do get a lot more speed,just because you feel that you're closer to the ground,and you just go for it. his powerful upper body drives hisperformance. he's chosen to pursue this dreamdespite carrying a major injury.
in his case, a dislocated shoulder. just taking that risk andjust pushing through and, oh woops, there goes the shoulder. but you've just got to take the risks. they have something to proveto the rest of the world, you know. and you know, seeing that theywant to be recognized as athletes first, not as disabled athletes. they want to be recognizedas athletes and i think people like adam hall andpeter williams show the
commitment and level oftrying to be the best in the world. without being cocky,i kind of believe that the team that i have behind methat supported me, my staff are world champions, olympic champions. it's not about the day much,you don't become on the day. it's all about the team,the preparation, the build up to the games. the kiwis train with 25international paralympic athletes at winterpark, colorado.
it's the final stage of training. the competition is just days away. adam will compete in the slalom,giant slalom, super combined, and downhill. racing at speeds of almost 120km/hr,putting enormous pressure on limbs that are already under straindue to his disability. we've done some tests last yearwith pressure in my boot, and you know, during the mostimportant part in phase of the turn, i'm pushing about250/300 kgs of force.
and that's a lot of force,especially for my sticks that don't evenreally work properly. over the new zealand summer,adam competed at world champs in austria, winning in slalom. but a gold medal atthe paralympics is now in his sights. i'm really really focused on this,i mean, i kind of tell people that vancouver is like my girlfriendin a way because i sleep about it, i dream about it,i... everything is about it, is about vancouver. by contrast, peter is an underdogin his class.
he scraped in for selectionto compete in the slalom and giant slalom in vancouver. other people have sort of said"oh yeah, nah... good luck getting to the olympics." but it is... i just want to proveto them and myself and just do the best i can with this paralympicgoal and dream of mine. our cameras have been followingadam since he came home from the torino paralympics four years ago. back then, he was virtually unknown,
ranked 49th in the world. being named in the new zealandparalympic team to go to torino was a big thrill that doesn't come overnight. and me, myself, i still have a longway to go, even after torino. so i'm not at my peak yet,and we'll see what the future brings. two years later, adam returnedto the family farm in dunedin from the world cup circuit witha gold in slalom. his dad put him straight backto work, milking cows. by 2008, his world rankingfor slalom was number 2.
four years ago, peter williamsditched a career in journalism in favor of pursuing hisparalympic dream. living on a shoestring,he became completely focused on training at all weathers. and during winters back-to-back. and this is my go-faster cover. right from childhood, peter's familysought ways to include him in family fun. skiing was something that my parentsdid and my sister at the age of two and a half was doing,and my parents really wanted
something that we couldall do as a family. his first trip to winterpark,colorado was a family holiday. my memory of skiing in winterparkwas being sort of tethered. i was on what adam hall does,two track... so four tracking, so i had outriggers on mycrutches on my arms and two skis that were tied togetherand because i had limited strength in my legs, i basically had to get held the whole time. so there was no independent skiing.
well that first one wasjust after pete was born, they gave me the photo becausethey took pete down to the neonatal ward whereall the sick babies go. so i was given a blurred photo of mybaby to take back to the room and that's all i had. well when he came out,i saw that his feet were very very deformed,and at that stage the doctor, because there were all sortsof complications and things and he was stressed and the doctoractually didn't realize he had spina bifida.
and they whipped him away and the nursesaw he was, and i was busy harping on, "what's wrong with my baby,what's wrong with my baby?" when i was first born i know my momwas told, "don't bother feeding him, he'll be dead within a couple of days." seven years on and the young peterhad endured 30 major operations. he's 26 now and he's outlivedthe medical world's expectations. the doctors still put time limitson my life. but as they put these time limits on my life i keep proving them wrong. for the past four years, wanaka
become adam's second home.
you know i don't really look at anyforecasts or anything, i just wake up in the morning and whatever it is it is.knife, measuring tape, and string. adam is referred to inskiing as a four tracker. his skis are tethered with rope. wouldn't make a very good carpenter that's for sure. and instead of ski poles he uses twocrutches with many skis for balance. oh well, if i don't have the muscles in my legs tokeep my legs together so when the string snaps, both my legs gowhatever way they decide to go on the day cardrona is one of four new zealandski fields that promotes adaptive skiing
and has physiotherapistsand medical experts on-site. you never know when adam will need them. i fall over all the time so i knowwhat i'm doing i suppose when i fall over. so far the hardest partof the day is putting me old boots on. my left leg is my worst leg with just theway it is with and the angles that it has, it's kind of a bit more messed upi guess so i have to be really careful when i put my left boot on. you know sometimes my kneecan pop if i put it in as well. when i first started skiing it was verydifficult, i didn't have very much help.
people left me in thecafeteria just to kind of sit there because i was so bad,and my dad actually spent a lot of time away from the farm most weekendsand school holidays trying to push me even more and show me that, you know,i can get up there and i can do it. you know being teased as a little kidwith having a disability, it kind of grew me as a whole person, because self-esteemis a huge important thing for somebody with a disability because you can justwave stupid comments off and just get on with your daily life. ♪[music]♪
i got on a plane when i was 14 yearsold to canada for three months and that was the first time thati had to look after myself, i had to everything, and that's sucha young age, you know, that's what really built my confidence,built my self-esteem. - hey! how's it going?- good. how are you? - oh not too much, same old.- yeah? having a disability of spina bifidaand the way that i walk, just walking puts a lot of strain on my legsand my knees and my hips, on everything. so adam ruptured his acl,and the acl is the major ligament
that lives inside the knee and makes the knee stable,so most people couldn't ski without an acl, most people have to have surgery. but because the way adam skis,and because he's a stubborn bugger, he's opted for... to ski without surgery. i'm more comfortable skiing anywhere,if i could ski 24/7 it would be more healthy than me walking. morning, good morning. six months out from the paralympics invancouver and peter has yet to qualify. the winter games inqueenstown are his last chance.
these games are the real thing. for selection for 2010,i've got to get top six. peter's proving a point on two fronts,superficially he wants to win a medal but there's a lot more that he wantspeople to know about his drive and determination to have a solid future. and that includes a job. i finished near the top of my classin university but that doesn't seem to make any difference. i was totally stonewalled by so manyemployers, "oh no we can't accommodate
your needs, we don't thinkyou're right for the role." and you you could just see thatthey were looking purely at the wheelchair. so i was like what i do to provethat i can be of use to employers. and one of my now sponsors said well,get back into skiing, you know, show them that you canachieve at a high level. [announcer speaking andcheering from the crowd] the selector said top six in gs and slalomso i finished sixth in gs the other day and finished fourth today. adam doesn't need a win,he's already secured his place
on the new zealand winter paralympic team. but nothing but number oneis ever good enough. everybody wants to know about the gold-medal,nobody really cares about the silver or the bronze. and everybody's expectingadam to clean up. but even before he checks the score,he knows it wasn't his best run. you know, everyone's skiing well so,i look forward to the next few months of training. adam finished second in the slalomand third in the giant slalom.
he's not happy. peter's being forced back to auckland. although he's qualified,his whole campaign's in jeopardy. he's busted his shoulderand probably shouldn't ski at all. so what happened on the first of marchis that peter fell onto his left shoulder, and quickly…can you show the action? ...pushed himself up from his riggerand dislocated his right shoulder. this is a normal shoulder.but in peter's shoulder, the force of the injury completelyseparated the ball from its socket.
now with his skiing he needs obviouslyexcellent shoulder control, he's getting that. peter uses upper body every day,all day, a lot more than the rest of us. peter's shoulder injury meansthat he hasn't skied in 12 weeks, seriously affecting his chance of a podiumfinish in vancouver which is barely 3 months away. i'm normally be up at snow planetat least twice a week, but since the course of my shoulder it's been moreof a worry to me that i was going to dislocate it again.
it's more of a confidence thing now thatmy shoulder is actually quite strong. i need to get it into my headthat i can be a little bit more daring. both these men are powering from alimited number of muscles. they need to draw on every bit of functions. i rely on my upper body to doso much so i have sometimes i have neck problems,i have shoulder problems. also i have a really subluxed hip which is due to being born with it but alsowith some ski crashes it's maybe made it worse as well.
and also a lot of aching that you haveon a day-to-day basis with muscles and training so hard. for the past two years, peter's girlfriendjo has supported him and his campaign for gold. but wanting to be the bestin the world means sacrifice. from now until the olympics, it'sunfortunately has to be about me. just days before peter departs fortraining in winterpark, colorado, they have to come toterms with living apart. i've kind of accepted that it's all aboutthe paralympics, a little bit reluctantly
but it's just the way that it has to be. i've got to… our relationship in a way has totake a back seat and that's the reality of any i think professionalsport when it gets to that level, you just have to-- or any goals that you may havein the future, that will be my time that i need to support you, so it's… the kiwis are backin winter park, colorado. training at 3000 m above sea level,altitude sickness is not uncommon. musical instruments in the snow?
only in america. you know, this is my sixth seasonback here in town and i guess you could probably say i'm pretty much a local by now. - oh! good shot!- right in the butt! paralympics new zealand supportsadam but it can't afford to fund both athletes. peter's pulled together sponsorship fromsmall businesses to finance his campaign. ah, good morning! but it doesn't allow for much.
let me show you around my huge flat. my kitchen, my flatmate erana. this is my very spacious bathroom,i have to crawl in there. and that's pretty much it.[laughing] that's jo and i. that's jo. i've been here what, 24, 48, 72 hours.i have probably called jo… five times? yeah. you know, distractions is one thingthat i try to stay away from because any single little thing that's goingto inflict my performance towards getting that gold-medal, i step away and go backand kind of you know, i best perform in
my cocoon and such. if i step away from the outside world and just do what i got to do then you know,you willthat's what works best for me. sit-ski racing is dividedinto five groups of competition, classified by theathletes' physical function. peter's classed in lw 11,that's a mono skiier who has good control of their core muscles. peter's seat clips into a regular ski. even with years of practice,getting into it is tricky. yeah it's the first time this season so it's…i've just to get used to, find that balance
point pretty quickly. the whole gear, the cover, the mono,and the outriggers, you're probably looking at about 8000 kiwi.it's a lot of money to find straight up. probably with nine pairs of skisin total is probably $15,000-$20,000 if not more, probably $25,000, $30,000if you include the plates, the bindings, the whole lot. mono skiing demands massive strength andflexibility from the shoulders and arms. peter's permanentlyweakened his right shoulder, the risk of dislocating it again is high.
first time on snow in three months. yeah my shoulders feeling really good,i had physio before i left and she advised me to justkeep on with the sports massage. so i've organized that startingnext week so ah... just keep the shoulders moving andworking and nice and relaxed and everything will be great. these are my new skis that i haven'ttried before, so i'm just going to be getting used to them,doing my usual routine, getting warmed up,a couple of drills to wake up some muscles,
it's been a couple of months. and i'm slowly getting intosome free skiing a bit faster. i mean adam's probably the hardestworking athlete in the world right now. the fact that he comes from whati refer to as salt of the earth, you know, growing up on a farm andhaving to milk cows, he comes out here, has a tremendous work ethic. and that work ethic is shown throughin his success in the world cup level. i'm hoping for gold, i believe in him.you know, if adam puts his best skiing on the hill and gives himself the opportunityto be successful, i don't think there's
any reason that he shouldn't get gold. for adam, the top prize at theparalympics is all-consuming. when he is not skiing or lifting weights,he's visualizing that day in vancouver where he's confident that he'll take gold. when they just released the olympicand the paralympic medals before i came out, so i printed this off for someinspiration and i'll put this up on my wall. perfect! i can wake up in the morningand look at that every morning and give me some more drive towards my goal. i really don't like the word handicappedthat they use here in the united states,
it's a little bit 1980s for me,just like crippled. that word's stillaround in the us vocabulary. handicapped is a big namethat is used in america. and handicapped actually came aroundback in the days with homeless people on the side of the road with caps. they would hold out theircaps begging for money. so handicapped actually means beggar. i don't think anyone with adisability out there is really a beggar. so to me and i'm proud to havea disability in a way, it's my uniform,
it's my badge, that's who i am. i believe that everybody out therehas a disability in some way. no i think we're both pretty competitivebut we just take different approaches. [sound of pool balls being hit] - ahh!- thank god! this is not about being the bestbut just trying your best and everything and not giving up and justtrying to kick butt and win. - i lost.- whoops. good game.good two games.
– luck.– luck, yes. peter has been part of ourprogram for the last three years. and he's really made a strong endeavorto make the 2010 paralympic games. barriers to getting the goldand the goal… really keeping focused, getting out there every singletraining run and working on that one thing i said i'm going to work on. spoken to the coach just need to geta little bit more angulation sort of in my lower torso, but it's early daysand i've got time to work on it. his challenge is to really increasethe risk a little bit and challenge
himself with the speed andembrace the speed that the hill gives him. he has a good tactical base butsometimes he needs to let it go a little bit. he'll need to push well beyondthe safety zone to even come close to the goal. the reality is, it's a risk. every day we're out there it's dangerous,it has its dangers for sure. every turn, it can breakyour legs just like that. i make one wrong move andi lose another 15% of my body,
that scares me. people in the sport have brokentheir backs, have broken their necks and people have been killed. ♪[adventurous music]♪ in those events were going anywherefrom 80 km up to about 120 km an hour. and that's faster than what yourcar is legally allowed to go on the road. even when you're going halfwaythrough a turn with all that pressure, i mean that pressure when you release250 to 300 kg of force, that can throw you anywhere, that can throw you into a tree,it can throw you into someone else, it can throw
you into the ice, it can do some damage. peter was never expected to livelonger than a few weeks and no one ever thought he'd ever get onnew zealand's paralympic ski team. he deals quietly with thechallenge in front of him. this is just another challengeof being not quite there but having the potential to be there. i think i've got every…well i know i've got every chance to be on the podium in vancouver. i know i can raceincredibly well when it counts.
i've just got to keep training hardso that i can be at my best performance in vancouver. every single day, probably almost everyhour of the day that i'm awake, i'm thinking of myself in vancouvergoing down the course, what my runs are going to be like, how my skis are going through the snow,what the conditions are going to be like. finishing the race, being on topof that podium with a gold medal around my neck with the national anthemplaying and being amongst all my friends and family that will be there watching,all the way to getting home in dunedin
and standing off the airplane tohopefully getting off the plane to more support and showing themwhat they've helped me to achieve.
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