Mon, Apr 04, 2005 page20

• Pope's support of sports made him popular with youth

  • AP
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  Pope John Paul II was an avid sportsman, and possibly the most athletic pontiff in history.

  While memories of the pope on skis or hiking through the Italian Alps contrast greatly with more recent images of him -- when he suffered from debilitating illnesses -- John Paul was a vibrant participant in physical activities throughout much of his life.

  From his days as "Lolek the Goalie" to his numerous hiking and kayaking trips that he used for spiritual gatherings, the pope always found time to satisfy his love for the outdoors.

  "He has been a terrific sportsman," said George Weigel, author of an extensive biography on John Paul. "As a young man he was a very active soccer player, a skier, a hiker. As a young priest he became very involved in a ministry to university students that was built around hiking, skiing and kayaking."

  Weigel noted that the pope had a swimming pool built at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo during the first summer of his papacy.

  "The story goes that he justified it by saying it was cheaper than building a new conclave," he said. "The first 15 years of his pontificate he took breaks to go skiing, and the miracle about that was the Italian paparazzi actually left him alone."

  John Paul, who traveled abroad more than any other pope in history, also shared the same stage as many of the world's greatest athletes, and performed mass in front of crowds larger than those seen at any sports event. And he relished the various audiences he held for professional athletes -- from Muhammad Ali to the Real Madrid.

  In one of his last such audiences in January, John Paul gave his blessing to the Ferrari auto racing team and its seven-time Formula One champion driver Michael Schumacher.

  The pope stressed the importance of team spirit and said Ferrari owed its sports and industrial results to "an enthusiasm that comes from a community spirit."

  "The Church considers sporting activity, practiced in full respect of the rules, a valid educational instrument for the younger generations," the pope said.

  Athletics have been an important part of the pope's life since his years growing up in the Polish town of Wadowice. Karol Wojtyla, as he was called then, was a goalkeeper for his local soccer team.

  Pilgrims to Wadowice can still see the pitch where he played.

  When he wasn't playing soccer, "Lolek" -- his nickname -- would take daring swims in the flooded Skawa River with his boyhood friend Jerzy Kluger during the warmer months. In the winter, the future pontiff played ice hockey on the Skawa's frozen surface and went skiing.

  "There wasn't much of a means to go up the mountain in those days, there was only one lift," Kluger said. "We used to walk three, four, five hours to get to the top and then ski down in seven minutes.

  "We were like all the other mountain boys, winter was long in Poland."

  As pontiff, the former mountain boy became an international icon. His energy and perseverance were unlike that of any other pope in recent memory.

  "John Paul II was the pope who chose sports, with all the valor that it represents, as one of the principal vehicles of dialogue with humanity and particularly with youths," Italian soccer federation president Franco Carraro said Saturday upon learning of the pope's death.

  "Children and sportsmen all over the world, in these 27 years, have had respect and an absolutely extraordinary love for John Paul II," Carraro said.
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