Six time Parlaympic medalist Rick Hansen, of Richmond, B.C., speaks after being named one of two honorary mayors for the Vancouver Athletes' Village during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C., on Monday December 7, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

RICHMOND, B.C. - The closing ceremonies for next month's Paralympic Games will mark 25 years to the day since Rick Hansen set out on his epic Man In Motion tour.

And on that anniversary, Hansen, himself a decorated Paralympian, hopes the international spotlight on Vancouver for the Winter Olympics will still be casting a glow on the Games' smaller, younger sibling.

"My hope is that people will recognize that, just around the corner, there's another group of amazing athletes from all over the world, they are best in class," Hansen said Tuesday after carrying the torch in Richmond, where he now lives with his family.

"Because it's two events inside one Games."

Hansen, who was paralysed from the waist down after a car accident when he was 15, became a Canadian icon during his Man In Motion tour, which started on March 21, 1985. He covered 40,000 kilometres in 34 countries by wheelchair to raise money for spinal cord injury research.

By then, he had already captured eight medals at the 1980 and 1984 Paralympics and won numerous international wheelchair marathons.

The Vancouver Paralympics start almost two weeks after the Olympics end, running from March 12 to 21.

The Paralympics are traditionally considerably smaller in scale than the Olympics, with fewer athletes competing in events that typically receive less media coverage than the feverish spectacle of the Olympics.

Hansen says it is the news media covering the Games that have the power to elevate the profile of the Paralympics to where the event belongs.

"Media are a big part of social change, and each one of you can focus on learning about sport for athletes who happen to have a disability," Hansen told a throng of reporters gathered around him on Tuesday night.

"While you're here, know that these are the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and just around the corner comes all these amazing athletes, so go tell their story, go share in that spirit."

The first Paralympics were held in Rome in 1960, and the first Winter Paralympics in Sweden in 1976. The Paralympics have always been held in the same year as the Olympic Games, and since 1988 have also used the same venues.

Hansen collected a gold, a silver and a bronze medal from the 1980 Paralympics and added two gold and a silver in 1984.

A few years earlier, while attending the University of British Columbia, he met Terry Fox, who died of cancer before completing his cross-country Marathon of Hope.

Their friendship helped sew the seeds for the Man In Motion tour, and by the time the two-year journey was finished, Hansen had raised $26 million.

He then started the Rick Hansen Foundation in 1988, and to date the organization has raised $200 million for spinal cord injury research and programs for patients with spinal cord injuries.

More than two decades later, Hansen says his work isn't finished.

"I hope that they (the public) are still thinking about the original dream, pursuing a dream of an inclusive and accessible society for all, including people who happen to have a disability," he said.

"We've come a long way in 25 years, but we have a long way to go, not just in Canada but around the world. If the next generation are interested and enthused and conscious of that, then there's real hope that we're going to accelerate and get there in the next 25 years."