Vancouver View - Final Days for Paralympics, Media Watch

Busy Thursday

Day 6 of competition is the second busiest on the schedule for the Vancouver Winter Paralympics. Two-dozen events are set for Thursday, with 12 medal events.

Marquee events include downhill skiing for men and women at Whistler along with cross country skiing at the Whistler Olympic Park, the Nordic center built for the 2010 Games.

In Vancouver, wheelchair curling continues with round robin action.

Semifinals in sledge hockey should draw capacity crowds to UBC Thunderbird Arena.

Unbeaten Canada plays Japan and the U.S. faces Norway. The gold medal round is Saturday, the last of the events scheduled for Vancouver. Sunday, the final day of the Vancouver Paralympics, all events, including the closing ceremony, take place in Whistler.

Russia Leads Medal Count

Russia tops the medal table at the Paralympics with 23, including eight gold and 10 silvers. Germany and Ukraine are tied for second with 12 medals followed next by Canada with eight.

Russia finished first at the 2006 Paralympics with 33 medals followed by Germany in second place

Push for Snowboarding in Sochi

Paralympic leaders are exploring how to incorporate snowboarding into the Paralympics but will have to hurry if they want in to be included at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Next week after the close of the 2010 Paralympics, the topic of snowboarding will be on the agenda at forum in Vancouver, according to the Australian newspaper. Australian Paralympic Committee CEO Jason Hellwig said he would support the sport joining the program.

"The North Americans, obviously Canada and the USA, are very keen for snowboard to be added to the Winters and Australia would fully support that proposal,’’ Hellwig told the newspaper.

The sports program for the Sochi 2014 will be finalized this year to give organizers time to plan.

Snowboard joined the Olympic program in 1998 at the Nagano Games. The sport added snowboard cross for the Vancouver Olympics and has three disciplines including halfpipe and parallel giant slalom

Wheelchair Accessible

VANOC spent an additional $150,000 to build new ramps for the Paralympics Opening Ceremony at B.C. place Stadium because the ramps used for the Olympics were too steep for individuals in wheelchairs, reports Jeff Lee of the Vancouver Sun.

"In the Olympic Games, the completestage area was needed for the opening and closing ceremonies, and the ramps were built at a different grade to allow for this," Patrick Roberge, producer of the Paralympic ceremonies, said in a statement to the newspaper.

"We knew we would have to change it. These shows are complex, large productions with many different moving pieces."

Paralympics Media Watch

With less media coverage of 2010 Paralympics compared to the Olympics last month, some Canadian columnists wonder

why the media does not show up in large numbers.

*National Post columnist Bruce Arthur says "lack of Paralympics coverage is a dammed shame" but adds that just is not high-demand for coverage.

*The Guardian reports that BBCis facing criticism for its coverage of the Paralympics.

*There are some benefits of having smaller crowds writes Shelley Fralic of the Vancouver Sun.

*An 11-year old evens says that Paralympics are not as crazy as the Olympics.

Interesting Stories

Paralympics by the numbers.

Mascot Sumi is shining during the Paralympics.

No red mittens for Paralympics.

CNN interviews the first Serbian Paralympian.

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Written by Ed Hula and Sam Steinberg.