Students from all over Colorado Springs gathered at the Olympic Training Center yesterday to offer their well-wishes to Olympic and Paralympic athletes before they head off to Beijing this August.

Among the athletes in attendance at the good-luck celebration were Eli Bremer, a 2008 Olympic pentathlon athlete; Jarrett Perry, a 2008 paralympic swimmer; Matt King, a three-time Paralympic tandem cyclist; and Asya Miller and Robin Theryoung, members of the women’s Paralympic goalball team. Members of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team also were in attendance.

“This special event will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our students who have been involved in year-long enrichment activities studying the Olympics, and the students are especially excited about the upcoming games in China, as they study Chinese language and culture daily,” said Chinook Trail Elementary School principal Gail Kozhevnikov, in a press release before the event.

Chinook Trails students showed off their Chinese-language skills by performing a song in Chinese for the crowd. Students held up banners showing the lyrics in both English and Chinese.

Students also were invited to ask questions of the athletes; they most commonly wondered how the athletes felt about heading to Beijing. (The answers? “We haven’t actually made the Olympic team yet,” said the gymnasts, and “Nervous,” from others.)

Students from the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind presented the athletes with a banner painted with Olympic colors that took “like, two days” to complete.

After the Q & A with the athletes, students were invited to storm down from the bleachers to get autographs and give the athletes hand-made “good luck” cards. According to a press release, students made more than 1,000 good-luck cards to give to the Olympians and Paralympians.

Kids ages 5-12 who would like another opportunity to learn from Olympic and Paralympic athletes might want to check out this summer’s Camp Vision, presented by the United States Association of Blind Athletes and the Divine Redeemer School. The camp gives children the opportunity to learn from Olympians, Paralympians and blind athletes, including topics such as overcoming adversity, language, culture, disabilities and everyone’s abilities.

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