By Phil Williams

Jenny Jordan can't wait until the Centennial Olympic Games are over.

It's not that Jordan, an Extension 4-H specialist on campus, has anything against the Games. It's just that in August, when the main events have ended, the Atlanta Paralympic Games will begin, and Jordan will lead a contingent of 100 state 4-H members as volunteers.

"It's going to be a great experience for these kids," says Jordan. "This is a very special event."

Indeed. The Paralympic Games, held along with all Summer Olympic Games since 1960, are the zenith of competition for top athletes with physical, visual or mental impairments. The competitors represent four international federations: the blind, paraplegics and quadriplegics, people with cerebral palsy and amputees.

The Paralympics are the second-largest sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games, and will draw some 3,500 athletes from more than 100 nations, competing in 17 sports Aug. 15Ç25.

The idea of using state 4-H'ers as volunteers at the Paralympics first came to another 4-H specialist, Susan Stewart, more than two years ago. The combination seemed natural--4-H is, among other things, a service organization dedicated to helping others.

"We are the only youth organization that will be bringing together volunteers for the Paralympics from all over the state," says Jordan. "The kids had to apply to be volunteers and had to have a background in working with the disabled and in the sport for a specific venue. They also had to have a recommendation from a county agent."

Along with 15 adult leaders, the 4-H volunteers will work at three venues during the week of Aug. 19Ç23: the equestrian site in Conyers, the shooting venue in southern metro Atlanta, and the track-and-field site in the Olympic Stadium. The youths will do everything from helping transport the disabled athletes to taking up tickets.

While all the 4-H volunteers are high school students, younger 4-H'ers are contributing banners to the effort as well.

The level of competition is startling. Among accomplishments by Paralympians:

• Canadian Arnie Boldt, a single-leg amputee, has high-jumped 6' 8-1/2".
• Double-leg amputee Tony Volpentest has run 100 meters in 11.6 seconds--less than two seconds behind the world record set by Carl Lewis in the 1992 Olympics at Barcelona.
• Visually impaired swimmer Trischa Zorn missed making the 1992 Olympic team by one one-hundredth of a second and then went on to win a staggering 10 gold medals in the Paralympics the same year.

Jordan, a native of Athens, was a 4-H'er during her school years. After several years as a county agent in Putnam and Elbert counties, she returned a year ago to Athens as a specialist with the Cooperative Extension Service.

"This is such a great thing for these kids," she says. "But the truth is, I can't wait either."