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Wheelchair athlete Brent Lakatos with his family at home in Dorval. (JOHN KENNEY/The Gazette)

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Paralympians seek medal haul of their own

Dorval mother battles to put disabled athletes on financial par with able-bodied Beijing winners

David Yates
The Gazette
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

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Wheelchair athlete Brent Lakatos with his family at home in Dorval. (JOHN KENNEY/The Gazette)

Brent Lakatos, one of Canada's top prospects for a medal at
September's Paralympic Games in Beijing, and his mother, Barbara
Payson, have long been a dynamic duo fighting for the rights of the
disabled.

The battle began more than 20 years ago after a clot that formed as
the result of a freak hockey accident left Lakatos paralyzed. And it
hasn't stopped since Payson was instrumental in effecting a change
in how to identify people with the right to park in spots for the
disabled.

"The government wanted to identify disabled drivers with licence
plates," she said.

"But that was not good for us, because I'm not disabled. That
system would have forced me to drop off my son at the shopping
centre entrance and then go look for a parking spot. I couldn't
leave my disabled 6-year-old son while I did that."

So Payson, who lives in Dorval, campaigned for - and won - a system
that identified the disabled with a card hung on the rearview mirror
of a car. And that's the way it is today. That was followed by a
battle lasting three years to have an elevator installed at nearby
Lachine High School (now Lakeside Academy) so Lakatos could go to
school with his friends. The elevator went into operation days
before Lakatos started Grade 7.

Now, the family has embarked on a battle to have Canadian medal
winners at the Paralympic Games paid a bonus, just like other
Canadian medal winners at the Olympic Games. The Canadian Olympic
Committee will pay able-bodied athletes $20,000 for a first-place
finish in Beijing, $15,000 for second and $10,000 for third.

"I'm sure the Canadian Paralympic Committee would like to do that
for us, but they just don't have the money," said Lakatos, who is as
diplomatic and articulate off the track as he is quick on the track
in his sprint specialties.

Lakatos, 28, quit his job as a computer programmer-analyst to
concentrate on training for Beijing and, like all Canadian athletes
who meet international standards, receives $18,000 a year from the
federal government and $10,000 from the provincial government.

Lakatos has enjoyed a fabulous year on the track since winning the
Canadian championship in the 100- and 200-metre events last year,
setting Canadian records in the two sprints and placing third in the
100 metres at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports
Association world championships in Taipei, with second-place
finishes in the 200 and 400.

But Lakatos, who has a maple leaf with the Olympic rings tattooed
on his left shoulder (it was a graduation present from his mother),
said he's not sure who to be mad at about the exclusionary aspect of
the bonus scheme.

"It's saying that a medal for an able-bodied athlete has more value
than one for a disabled athlete. It's kind of an insult," Lakatos
said.

Lakatos attended the University of Texas, in nearby Arlington, on
an athletic scholarship and played wheelchair basketball there for
41/2 years, winning a national championship in 2002.

"We train just as hard as the able-bodied athletes and we sacrifice
our lives for our country," he said.

While some may frown on it, bonus money for Olympic medal winners
is new in Canada. But the payments are a way of life in the United
States, Europe and in the Middle East. Olympic and Paralympic
athletes in France and Italy receive up to $200,000 for winning a
gold medal.

You have to wonder whether the medal haul by the athletes has any
bearing on the bonus scheme. Canadians won 12 medals at the 2004
Athens summer Olympics and 24 at the 2006 winter Games in Torino.

Compare that with the 72 medals won by Canadians at the Athens
Paralympic Games, good enough for third place in the overall medal
standings. The Canadian Paralympic team is ranked fifth overall in
the world and could win plenty of medals in Beijing.

The bonus money for able-bodied athletes will come from a fund set
up following the 1988 Calgary winter Olympics.

The CPC is working to set up a similar fund following the 2010
Vancouver winter Games to provide bonus money for its athletes,
according to communications director Mark Buzan. That suggests
bonuses for Paralympic athletes will not be in place before 2012 at
the earliest.

"You have to remember that the CPC is very young," Buzan said. "To
put things in perspective, 10 years ago we asked athletes to pay
their own airfare to the Paralympic Games. This year, the CPC is
spending $3 million on sending the team of 140 to Beijing, including
a horse."