Brian McKeever's disappointment
By Jonathon Gatehouse - Saturday, February 27, 2010 - 22 Comments
Canada’s blind cross-country skier told he won’t participate in men’s 50 km race
Brian McKeever hoped to make Olympic history. Now he’s not even sure if he’ll stay until the end of the Games.
The 30-year-old Calgarian was the last man to qualify for Canada’s cross-country team, punching his ticket at the Olympics trials in Canmore in Dec., with a surprise first-place finish in the 50 km race.
It’s not the sort of accomplishment the media normally takes note of, but McKeever’s story was a little different. Legally blind—he suffers from Stargardt’s disease, the most common form of inherited juvenile macular degeneration, and has only 10 per cent vision—he was already an accomplished Paralympian, the winner of four gold, two silver and a bronze at the 2002 and 2006 Paralympic Winter Games. Now he had a chance to do what no one else had ever done before: compete in both Winter events.
But late last night, that dream came to an end. His coach, Inge Braten, accompanied by the team’s head coach Dave Wood, and Tom Holland, Cross-Country Canada’s high-performance director, met with him to break the bad news. McKeever will not be among Canada’s four skiers entered in Sunday’s 50km event, the final race of the Games.
The decision said Braten was made strictly on performance. Between them, Devon Kershaw, Alex Harvey, Ivan Babikov and George Grey have six Top-10 finishes at these Games.
“I have to be professional,” said Braten. “I have to use my four best men in an Olympics in Canada.”
He spoke a similar situation when he was coaching in his native Norway during the Lillehammer Games. One member of that powerhouse team was the fifth best skier in every discipline. And consequently he never got a chance to perform in front of his home crowd.
Still this choice was harder, Braten allowed. McKeever cried and so did he.
“That was really the hardest, the hardest ever,” he said. “I hope I don’t ever do it again.”
Braten even petitioned the FIS, the international skiing federation, to make an exception and allow Canada to have five entrants in the 50km. “I asked for it for human reasons, and [because] this is in Canada.” The federation refused, as Braten admits, he was almost certain they would.
But there is no way to put a positive spin on such a heartbreaking choice. McKeever’s own expectations that he would race, despite his status as an alternate on the team, were high. And they were fueled, in part, by Cross-Country Canada’s choice to pump the feel-good story. National and international media couldn’t get enough of it. There’s even an inspiring Visa TV commercial about McKeever with Morgan Freeman doing the voice-over.
Earlier in the week, there had been talk of giving McKeever a spot in the team sprint event. But that was scrubbed on performance grounds—Devon Kershaw eventually filled it, and he and Alex Harvey just missed the podium, placing fourth. However, Braten admits that wasn’t the only consideration. CTV had no plans to broadcast the sprint preliminaries, and it was doubtful McKeever—not a natural sprinter—and Harvey could have been among the top 30, and advance to the next, televised round.
“You have a lot of politics in Canada. I can’t understand the politics in sport in Canada,” said Braten.
When McKeever came out to meet the press today, just after the start of the women’s 30 km race, he was classy, but obviously crushed.
“I respect the decision, but I don’t have to be happy about it,” he said. “I understand it. Our boys are racing so fast, and they deserve everything they get.”
McKeever said he doesn’t expect, or even want, one of his teammates to step aside. He made the Olympic team on his own merits, and hoped to race for the same reason.
“The qualification in itself was a big victory. But it didn’t end up the way I wanted,” he said, pausing to wipe away some tears.
As of today, he is not sure if he will attend Sunday’s race and cheer on his teammates. His new focus is on his first Paralympic race, March 9, along with his sighted guide, and brother, Robin.
Four years from now in Sochi, he hopes to be back. And at least get another chance to fulfill his dream.
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Too far, too fast
By Jonathon Gatehouse - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 6:21 PM - 1 Comment
Canada’s 4 x 10 km men’s relay team comes 7th. Sweden takes gold.
Plenty of heart, but not much left in the gas tank.
Canada’s men’s cross-country team delivered their sixth top-10 finish of the Vancouver 2010 Games today, coming 7th in the 4 x 10 km relay.
But coming in an event that they had circled on the schedule as a possible podium, (Canada was fifth at the world championships last year) there was little to celebrate.
“Seventh is absolutely not what I wanted, and not what I have been dreaming about for the past four years,” said Devon Kershaw of Sudbury. “My race was horrendous.”
Kershaw, who raced to a fourth place finish in the team sprints Monday with Alex Harvey, finished the first 10km leg in 28-minutes, 23.8 seconds, more than 28 seconds off the pace. As it turned out, an insurmountable gap, for his compatriots, Alex Harvey, Ivan Babikov and George Grey.
Afterwards, Kershaw, usually among the strongest starters on the circuit, suggested finishing just off the podium in the sprints may have taken more out of him than he realized.
“I pressed down on the accelerator and the cable connecting the gas pedal to the engine snapped. I put my foot to the floor and nothing responded,” he said. “It was the complete opposite of how I felt on Monday. I felt like Superman. That was one of the best races of my life today was one of the worst.”
Sweden took the gold in a combined time of 1 hour, 45 minutes and 5.4 seconds.
But the story of the day, was Norway’s silver, an epic act of will by Petter Northug, who started the anchor leg with his team in sixth place, 37.5 seconds off the pace. On his first charge, Northug made up 25 seconds, pulling within hailing distance of the leading group, Sweden, France and the Czech Republic. The gap widened again when Marcus Hellner of Sweden broke away into the lead, and the French and Czechs picked up their pace. With a kilometre to go, it appeared that Norway would have to settle for fourth. But Northug again found the strength to charge, catching Emmanuel Jonier of France and Czech skier Martin Koukal as they entered the stadium at Whistler Olympic Park. Over the final 400 metres, Northug pulled even, then away, finishing with a time of 1:45.21.3. The Czechs clinched bronze with a time of 1:45:21.3. France was fourth.
Northug had won gold in the sprints on Monday, with teammate Oeystein Pettersen. If he was tired, it certainly didn’t show.
Dave Wood, Canada’s head coach said his team was at a disadvantage with two members—Kershaw and Harvey—having participated in the sprints. The Swedes had four fresh skiers. The Norwegians three.
“I was worried when we put the entry in,” said Wood. “I knew it was a gamble.”
“It wasn’t a bad decision to put them in the team sprint, because they were fighting for the podium right down to the wire, but it would have been nice to have a couple more days rest.”
Kershaw had a different take.
“Northug is the best skier in the world. He’s ridiculous,” he said. “He’s the benchmark, the guy we all want to be. Or at least, get closer to.”
The fact there were even podium expectations were a measure of just how far Canada’s cross-country team has come.
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There's Snow in them-thar Hills!
By Jonathon Gatehouse - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 2:13 PM - 1 Comment
And even down in the valley.
Thirteen days in spring-like Vancouver made the winter part of the Winter Olympics seem a bit abstract. When people are wearing shorts around town, you feel like a bit of a knob in your fleece and ski jacket. (In my defense, it’s chilly inside the Richmond Oval, and Mom told me to keep warm.)
But here in Whistler—my assignment for the rest of the Games—the day dawned with a fresh blanket of the white stuff. It’s still more late-spring, than winter wonderland (1 degree and a bit goopey) but I’ll take it.
It’s the kind of conditions that the Canadian cross-country skiers have been waiting for. They figure the course will favour their grinding style as the 4×10 km men’s relay gets underway in five minutes.
This is probably Canada’s best hope for a medal. Should be fun.
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Canada's Olympians: Alex Harvey, Cross-country Skiing
By Nicholas Köhler - Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 10:10 AM - 4 Comments
The son of a skiing legend is out to make a name for himself
He was losing, coming in seventh. Worse, this was Rimouski, his mum and dad’s hometown. Worse still, he was Alex Harvey, son of Pierre, the legendary Canadian World Cup champion. “The media were wondering why Pierre Harvey’s son was not winning everything in cross-country skiing,” Alex recalls of the 2001 Jeux du Québec. “If he’s seventh in Quebec, maybe he’s 20th in Canada. And 100th in the world.” He was only 12 years old.His mother Mireille, a doctor, organized a hasty media conference. “Okay, this is the last time that Alex is going to talk to the media,” he recalls her telling reporters. “There’s a press conference, it’s going to be an hour long—and that’s going to be it.” A tough start perhaps, but likely good preparation for Alex’s life now, in the last weeks heading into his first Olympics at the tender age of 21. Indeed, the parallels are striking, and some of his mother’s chutzpah has rubbed off on him. “Since then I was able to manage stuff,” he says, large studs punctuating both ears. “I’m lucky to be fairly gifted emotionally. I can handle pressure and I can stay cool-headed.”
And how. In a sport that generally favours much older athletes, Alex has already demonstrated he can handle himself on the trails as well as in scraps with opponents off the snow.
