U.S. & Mexico Paralympic Handcycling; Alejandro Albor

Paralympic sports struggle to make a presence in the world. Paralympic means alongside the Olympics. Paralympics are an international competition for athletes with disabilities. Paralympic Committees reside alongside Olympic Committees in many countries. Over the years rules and regulations changed, shifted and transformed Paralympic sports.

Paralympic handcycling is gaining ground in the U.S. and Mexico. U.S. Paralympian handcyclist and owner of A-WON HandCycles Alejandro Albor understands the importance of Paralympic sports. With a degree in airframe and power plants he builds handcycles and often sales them without charging for either labor or parts. As a child he immigrated from Mexico and is a U.S. citizen. He exclaims, “I went to Mexico last year, and their Paralympic Committee began integrating handcycling after my visit. Mexico athletes are trying to compete against the U.S. next year.”

Albar says, “The first time I competed in the Boston Marathon in 2000, we went to court to be able to use our wheelchairs and our teammate in a wheelchair represented us as our lawyer. The sport is very popular in Europe.” The defense’s argument resembled the notion that handcycles are similar to bikecycles, so they should not be used in competition. Nevertheless, handcycles are used continuously in competitions. Third generation wheelchair marathon legend Joe Dowling competes in a handcycle created by Albor. During the same year of the court dispute, Dowling switched from a wheelchair to a handcycle.

To learn more about Joe Dowling, Alejandro Albor and other U.S. Paralympic athletes visit the New York Times video and article at: http://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=a-37e9baf5:10eae29a1d6:5b35&fr_story=9112fb01cea709c8d9ae955ca01f66709cee0848&st=1162566578871&mp=WMP&cpf=true&fvn=7&fr=110306_100938_w37e9baf5x10eae29a1d6x5b36&rdm=21980.338081180438
Also visit the Olympic website at: www.usoc.org and click on the dropdown menue to select U.S. Paralympics.