The Olympic Creed states: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." There are few athletes who better embody that message than the athletes of the 2006 Paralympics.

Don’t let the disability fool you; the athletes of the Winter Paralympics are just as competitive as able-bodied athletes. In the case of alpine skiing, they ski with the same speed as their Olympic counterparts.

Paralympic athletes are classified according to their disability: standing, sitting, and visually impaired. In alpine skiing, Paralympic athletes compete in the same events as those featured in the Olympics—the downhill, super-G, slalom, and giant slalom.

Ralph Green is a member of the alpine ski team. He competes in the super-G, slalom and giant slalom. He lost his leg a little more than a decade ago when, at the age of 16, he was shot while walking down the street with a friend in Brooklyn, NY. A year after his leg was amputated, he was introduced to skiing. A multi-sport athlete in high school (in addition to being the quarterback, he played baseball, basketball, tennis, and ran track), Green never lost his competitive spirit. Determined to excel at something, he went to Winter Park, Colorado, in 2000 to focus on skiing.

Green is a standing athlete who uses special poles when skiing. Sitting athletes compete with a monoski and specially designed poles. In the Nordic events, standing athletes use a prosthetic and sitting athletes use a sit ski, which has two “runners.” In both the alpine and Nordic events, athletes who are visually impaired compete with the help of a guide who also receives a medal.

Candace Cable is a sit skier who competes in middle and short distance Nordic events. Torino will be her fifth appearance at a winter Paralympics. Paralyzed after being hit by a car, she started her Paralympic career in alpine skiing. During the summer months, she built her strength and endurance competing in wheelchair marathons and triathlons (she competed at the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon in 2004 at the age of 50!).

As you watch these Paralympic winter games and read or hear about the athletes and their stories, we hope you will be inspired to challenge yourself to reach your own fitness, physical activity and sports goals.

Click here to read more about the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games, which take place March 10-19 in Torino, Italy.