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By DADE HAYES
Special to the Times
UNIVERSAL CITY - The boat trembled slightly as it crept toward a steep drop in the dark, giving the earthquake survivors a familiar, queasy feeling of dread.
At the end of this tunnel, through, there were no crumbling, no cries for help from trapped loved ones.
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Instead, the four Armenian teenagers splashed down at the end of the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios , a world away from the Armenian earthquake of 1988 that left three of them amputees. |
After visiting Los Angeles - drawn by a support network in the city's Armenian- descent population of about 400,000 - the foursome will head to Atlanta on Monday as their country's first representatives in the Paralympics, a quadrennial event for disabled athletes from 120 countries set for Thursday through Aug.25
Although they had never boated before the quake struck, they're aiming for a medal in sailing.
| Garoush Danielian and Stasik Nazarian, both 18, and Armen Martirossian, 17, lost limbs in the quake, which killed an estimated 25,000 people. Haik Abgarian, 17, had a foot amputated after a bicycling accident. |  |
"Through this sport, we can live with dignity," Martirossian said through an interpreter.
They have become good sailors, said their coach, Samvel Rostomyan.
"When I am with them in the boat, I am the one who feels disabled." He said. That has not erased for them the disaster's price.
"It's good to be involved in sports," Danielian said. "But it would be better not to have lost so many friends. It would be better to be able-bodied."
The teenagers were in grade school when the quake hit. All have grim stories about being buried in the rubble, watching friends die and their city collapse. The country is still struggling to rebuild, energized but also hampered by its independence from the former Soviet Union.
"When (former Soviet President Mikhail S.) Gorbachev first visited, he said everything would be back to normal in two years," said Hakob Abramhamian, head of a relief organization that raised money for the trip. "It's now eight years later and nothing is back to normal."
Abrahamian, a former college professor, began Pyunic - Armenian for "phoenix" - in 1989 and threw its support behind the Paralympics trip, which is being followed closely back home. The head of Armenia's parliament sent the team off personally, calling them a symbol of the country's goal to rise from disaster.
While the sailors feel pride in their country and in their perseverance, their time in America before the games is a welcome escape. "here, their situation is really far away. They can just relax and have fun." Said Vahe Marzpetuny. He added: "And they love every girl they see."
Still, as they walked around kitsch Wild West movie sets and theme rides with John William's film scores blaring over loudspeakers, they realized this respite will end. They soon will return to a place they said has no laws to protect the disabled, an inaccessible "country of stairs," in the words of Sarkis Ghazarian, an Angeleno who helped organize the trip.
With that in mind, they couldn't wait to visit one of the park's mainstays: an earthquake simulator.
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