Interview with Gerry York October 10,
1996
Q. Why did you get involved with Blind sports?
A. My son Patrick is blind.
Q. When did you first get involved?
A: I was involved in sport to begin with because I
have other children. My daughter Terrie was an Olympic
class diver and I was already involved with the Cdn
Amateur Diving Assoc when the 1976 Toronto Paralympiad
came along, that is when they started talking about
having Olympics for the disabled. Because I was already
involved in sport, I made some enquireies as to the
opportunities thatwere going to be available for blind
athletes if the Olympics for the disabled were going to
happen. Joe Louis at the CNIB was very helpful and I
basically started by helping as a parent.
After 76 the Federal government showed support for the
formation of National associations for disabled
athletes.
The province of Ontario was active in all our sport
organisations, we all have similar beginnings.
Q: How did you get involved as a board
member?
A: I sort of became president by default in 1980. I
was treasurer previously. I was invited to a symposium in
late 1979.
After this meeting I was invited to be president
pro-temp as the president at the time didn't want to
complete her full term. I was to be team manager of the
Paralympic team for Arnhem in 1980 and in May 1980 I was
officially elected. I remained as president from 1980
until 1984. I was heavily involved in the beginings of
CFSOD when it was started.
After I retired I was encouraged by Merv Oveson to
become BC President.
Q: What some of the highlights of the last twenty
years for you.
A: There's more than one but I can put my finger on a
few instances. Overall it is whenever an athlete with a
disability sets a new standard whether it be a world
record or a personal best. I can still remember Yvette
Michel in 1979 setting a world record in Richmond. We
were at the end of a very tiring weekend and all of a
sudden the judges were re-checking their watches and all
of a sudden no one felt tired anymore.
Another was my son Patrick winning his gold medal at
the 1980 Paralympics in Holland. Right at the end of the
race with several other competitors closing in Patrick
broke free of the tether with the guide and ran the last
20 meters by himself. Dick Loiselle caught Pat at the end
and told him he had won.
Also Arnie Boldt in Seoul was another highlight. We
had the biggest ever crowd at the Paralympics. Arnie was
trying to break his world record in the high jump, he got
very close, but the very large crowd was behind him. I
was really moved by the crowd getting behind Arnie since
hardly anyone had come out to see him in Holland and in
New York.
It is these kind of performances that inspire me to
tell young kids in high school(whether they have a
disability or not) that they too can go to the Olympics
and win a medal, any body can! Any one who claims a
personal best makes me glad I volunteered.
Q: Opposingly, what have been the disspointments in
sport for athletes with a disability.
A: I'm an eternal optimist, I try not to dwell on the
negative things. Some of things that do bother me is not
being able to get enough competitiors in some of the
events, particulalry the womens events. This causes the
event to be dropped from the Paralympic calendar or the
classifications have to be combined. I'm always taking
out WHO figures for the government to tell them "you
can't have the same numbers for federal carding as
non-disabled athletes". The numbers game is always a
problem for blind women athletes. Llliana Ljubisic in
Atlanta had to compete against B2 athletes and the B2
throwers threw further than the B3 throwers.
I have not fallen love with the functional
classification system as yet. Partly becasue I was in
Nottingham for the first World Youth Games and saw the
devastating effect the functional system was having on
some disabilities. For instance kids with above knee
amputations were competing against kids with paralysied
lower limbs, to me that was wrong. I don't care how the
classifiers arrived at their mathematical conclusion, the
inequity of such a system was more than apparent on that
day. We've managed to keep the blind out of the
functional classification, although I'm sure somebody
would dream up a formula to solve that one. Basically, I
have a problem with any class system that discriminates
one disability over another. If the playing field cannot
be made to be level, then too bad!
Another issue is more sport based. Blind Powerlifters
compete in all three lifts in powerlifting and yet there
is no powerlifting at the Paralympic level for blind
athletes. The problem with amputees being banned from
able-bodied powerlifting meets is also a problem. The
fact that the judges cannot distinguish between an "aid"
and a something that allows equal access is
disturbing.
Having long since gotten' over their disability, many
disabled athletes today are asking for a better way of
measuring their performance. So lets measure their
performance in respect to their body mass or some other
category, computers can be used for wonderful things
these days. We have to motivate the athletes to perform
better.
Q: What does Gerry York see in the future for
disability sport?
A: In 1994 we had the Commonwealth Games, a highlight
for disability sport across the world as well as in
Canada. Malaysia the host of the 98 Games don't have any
events. Somehow we were so involved in our own worries
and with Atlanta, we have not been getting on to the
organisers in Malaysia and telling them what we want.
Even if it means charging us to host the events with an
entry fee, money should not be an obstruction to not
hosting the athletes in 98. I don't want money to ever,
ever stop athletes from being able to compete. If it has
to be done put a price on it, let us go out and raise the
money somewhere in the world. It's not right the
Commonwealth Games moved so far ahead going into the next
millenium and darned if we are not back to square one.
You think you have won a battle and find out the war is
still on.
The work that has been done by people like CIAD and
Rick Hansen and the accomplishments of wheelchair
athletes at the Olympics is something to be further
developed. The appearance of wheelchair athletes at the
Olympics since 1984 has been an incredible boon for all
disability sport. If we fight amongst ourselves over who
should be doing what in the Olympics the IOC will pick up
on that and use it against us. We have to be supportive
of each other in principle. We may not agree all the time
but if one disability based sport group moves ahead then
maybe the other groups can benefit also.
I'm not in favour of a duplicate delivery system for
blind athletes. Our athletes are not physically disabled,
they just can't see. So if the neccesity for sight is
removed blind athletes should be able to perform equally
to sighted athletes. But we have to do this from the day
the kid loses his or her sight so that the same motor
skills are developed. The only sport that I can see as
being fully integrated is tandem cycling. In tandem
cycling the person on the back can't see anyway. Swimming
would work only if you had good tappers. This will take
time and it would be wonderful not to have a duplicate
delivery system, I'd love for our swimmers to have access
to nothing but the best coaches. Each disability is
different and I don't feel I can speak on behalf of any
other disability group each disability is a whole
different ball game. Some disability sports have proven
they can compete equally against their non-disabled
counterparts when given the chance. But this has to be
done on a sport by sport basis and it cannot be
legislated by the government. I'm scared that Sport
Canada will come along and say "thou shalt" and they we
are dead in the water. It will only work if the people
who are providing the services want it to work.
