The 22-year-old, who won the standing slalom in Vancouver earlier this year, was presented with a framed certificate presented by Wanaka Community Board chairman Lyal Cocks after receiving a hero's welcome back to his winter base when hundreds of people turned out for a late-afternoon street parade.

Hall, dressed in a black suit and wearing the gold medal he won Canada, brought up the rear of the parade, travelling on a trailer decorated to resemble a snow-covered mountain.

Hundreds of people lined the streets to watch the procession, led by members of Adaptive Sports NZ, make its way to the lakefront Dinosaur Park where the skier signed autographs and talked to fans.

Cocks said: "Wanaka Council staff had pondered over how best to acknowledge Adam and decided to launch a Hall of Fame, which will be established in the foyer of the Lake Wanaka Centre."

Hall, who has spina bifida, won New Zealand's first Winter Paralympics gold medal in the since Salt Lake City in 2002.

Cocks said: "Adam is a young man who set a goal and went out and achieved it.

"We are proud to claim him as Wanaka's."

Accepting his award, Hall thanked his family, paying tribute to his mother Gail who was killed in a car accident shortly after he returned to New Zealand from Vancouver.


Related stories
April 2010: Hall feted at reception organised by his mother
April 2010: New Zealand Paralympic gold medallist in mourning after mother killed in car crash