Photo gallery: The 2010 Winter Paralympic Games

By macleans.ca - Monday, March 22, 2010 at 12:17 PM - 2 Comments

Gold medal history

By macleans.ca - Monday, March 15, 2010 at 2:44 PM - 6 Comments

At last: Gold! Brian McKeever, the visually impaired cross-country skier from Alberta, has earned Canada its first-ever Paralympic gold on home soil. McKeever finished his gold-medal 20-kilometre race 40.9 seconds ahead of the silver medallist: Nikolay Polukhin of Russia. He raced with his older brother, Robin McKeever, who competes as his guide. Eager fans gathered around the finish line at Whistler’s Paralympic Park on Monday to cheer on the Canadian; they were, however, asked to remain silent so that the athletes could listen to their guides.

Toronto Star

10 Paralympians to watch

By Kate Lunau and Rachel Mendleson - Friday, March 12, 2010 at 12:32 PM - 3 Comments

Sonja Gaudet The only returning member of the Canadian Team, Sonja Gaudet, 43, is favoured to win gold at the Vancouver Games. Gaudet, who sustained a spinal injury after falling from a horse six years ago, enjoys diverse sports including basketball, rowing and swimming; she was a natural at wheelchair curling, having earned several top honours, including a gold medal at the 2009 World Championships and the gold in Torino in 2006, where wheelchair curling was first introduced as a Paralympic sport. Now based at the Vernon Curling Club in B.C., Gaudet works to improve accessibility in the community, and hopes to work in the school system once she retires from her athletic career. Married to husband Dan, she has two teenagers, Alysha and Colten.

Robbi Weldon Robbi Weldon, a visually impaired skiier who hails from Thunder Bay, Ont., got on her first pair of (downhill) skis at age three. As a teenager, she was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, a genetic form of macular degeneration; she remained an active participant in several sports, even setting national and world records in the squat, bench press, and deadlift. She has been nordic skiing since 2002, and these are her first Paralympics. Weldon, 34, has two young children, Keegan and Alexander.

Brian McKeever Cross-country skiier Brian McKeever wept when he got the news that he’d only just failed to qualify for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the same year, which would have made him the first athlete to do so, reports the Vancouver Sun. Still, big things are expected from the 30-year-old Canmore native, a seven-time Paralympic medalist who was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, a form of macular degeneration, soon after beginning university. With just ten per cent of his sight, McKeever also competes in able-bodied competition, inspecting a track and committing it to memory beforehand. He hopes to go on to compete at the Sochi Olympic Games in 2014.

Jim Armstrong A onetime able-bodied member of the British Columbia Curling Team, Jim Armstrong, a skip, switched to wheelchair curling about three years ago after developing knee and back problems (he’s had about 14 knee surgeries, he says). Armstrong, 59, started curling at age eight; last year, his team won gold at the 2009 World Curling Championships. He’s also the only curler to have won the Ross Harstone Award for Sportsmanship and Ability three times, an award voted on by his fellow curlers. Last year, Jim lost his wife Carleen to cancer. He has three children, Jody, Jayme and Greg.

Jody Barber According to Jody Barber, “Life is 10 per cent what happens to you and 90 per cent how you respond to it.” Barber, who will be vying for the podium in the Nordic events, was training for a triathlon when she nearly lost her arm in a bike accident in Australia in 2006. Told she would never swim or bike again, the 45-year-old mother of five set two goals: re-learn how to swim and do a half marathon—which she met. Next, Barber, who teaches high school in Smithers, B.C., set her sights on cross-country skiing. Though she says balancing with one pole was “a little awkward at first,” she soon got the hang of it, and before long, was competing on the international stage. After making the national team in 2008, she clinched silver in biathlon pursuit and bronze in cross-country skiing at the world championships in Finland. Despite competing in only three races this season, she’s going into Paralympic competition ranked tenth in the world. She attributes much of her success to her family; her husband, a cross-country coach, will be one of the forerunners at the Paralympics.

Lauren Woolstencroft One of the world’s top Paralympians, Lauren Woolstencroft is also a driving force behind the scenes at the Vancouver Games. The decorated skier, who has won 50 medals, including eight world cup championships, is also an electrical engineer; her handiwork is helping to light up the mountain venues. Competitive in all five of skiing’s events, Woolstencroft, 28, has been a star of the Para-Alpine team since becoming a member in 1998. Born without legs below the knee and with no arm below the left elbow, the Calgary native started skiing on family trips to Montana at the age of four. Using prostheses for her lower legs and left arm, she competes as a standing skier. Known as much for her drive as her talent, she earned the title of “Golden Girl” when, after taking a nasty fall in the downhill race, she came back to win gold in the super G—her fourth medal of those games.

Sam Danniels If his recent entry into IPC World Cup competition is any indication, para-alpine skier Sam Danniels is a serious medal contender. In his first IPC World Cup start during the finals in Whistler last year, the 24-year-old finished an impressive fourth in the sit-ski category. Danniels, who was born in Toronto, Ont., sustained a spinal injury in a mountain bike accident in 2005. A natural athlete, he has quickly progressed in the para-alpine world, volunteering with the Whistler Adaptive Sports Program, and teaching others to use a sit-ski. After posting the fastest time during the first downhill training sessions before the Paralympics, he told CTV, “I’m happy I’m alive, I’m happy I made it and the fact that I’m first is just the icing on the cake. I really can’t wait for the real race to happen on Saturday.”

Viviane Forest Heading into the Vancouver Games, Viviane Forest has set the bar high. When all is said and done, the 30-year-old Edmonton resident wants to have been on the podium for all five ski events. And if any of those medals are gold, she’ll also have something else to celebrate: being one of the only athletes to win gold at both the summer and winter Paralympics. Forest, who has won two gold medals for goalball, already has an impressive para-alpine record since joining Team Canada in 2008: she won the 2008-09 season overall Crystal Globe in the ladies visual impaired category; took gold medal in super combined in the 2009 IPC World Championships; and won top spot at the 2009 Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Championships in Sun Peaks, BC. Despite having only four per cent vision, she tears down the hill behind her guide at speeds that exceed 100 kilometres per hour.

Bradley Bowden According to sledge hockey athlete Bradley Bowden, Team Canada’s drive for the podium in Vancouver is “more than a hockey tournament. It’s something that I’m going to tell my children and grandchildren about one day.” Given his past accomplishments, the 26-year-old, who lives in Orton, Ont., is justified in expecting greatness. Since joining the national sledge hockey team in 1999, Bowden, who has Sacral Agenesis, a condition similar to Spina Bifida, has been a driving force behind several world championships, and a gold medal victory in Salt Lake City. He’s also a decorated wheelchair basketball player, picking up gold in Athens in 2004, and silver at the Para-Panamerican Games in Rio in 2007.

BUDGET 2010: The unemployed, youth, and families

By Philippe Gohier - Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 4:45 PM - 2 Comments

Ottawa plans to lean on changes to the Employment Insurance system to help Canadians cope with a job market that remains tough in several sectors. The government most notably expects manufacturing job losses to keep mounting, albeit at a slower pace, due to weak U.S. demand and the rise of the Canadian dollar. So in addition to previously announced reforms that extended the length of time unemployed Canadians could remain on EI by five weeks, the government is now expanding its work-sharing program, at a projected cost of $106 million over the next two years.

Under the work-sharing program, employees whose workweeks have been cut are entitled to collect EI payments to make up the shortfall in income. Thursday’s budget extends the amount of time individuals can take part in the program to 78 weeks from the previous maximum of 52 weeks. The move is a temporary one, though, and will be eliminated on March 31, 2011. The government estimates its combined EI-related measures will create or maintain 24,000 jobs by then end of 2010, at a cost of $2.7 billion over two years.

Thursday’s budget will also facilitate access to EI for workers who take a leave of absence from work after losing a family member as a result of a crime. The cost of the program is pegged at $6.6 million over two years.

Investments targeted at youth job creation include a one-time contribution of $10 million to the Canadian Youth Business Foundation aimed at young entrepreneurs, and $30 million to encourage businesses to hire recent college and university graduates. At-risk youth will benefit from an extra $30-million committed to skills development programs.

Meanwhile, single parents of children under six can expect to see their tax bill cut thanks to changes in the way $100 per month Universal Child Care Benefit is taxed. Under the current system, the benefit is added to a single parent’s income and taxed at their marginal tax rate, meaning single-income two-parent families, who are allowed to add the benefit to a non-working parent’s income, may pay less tax than their single-parent counterparts on identical UCCB payments. Ottawa now plans to allow single parents to add the income from the UCCB to that of their child, effectively eliminating the tax on UCCB. The change is expected to cost the government $5 million a year.

After much public deliberation over the value of Canada’s Own the Podium Olympic program during the Vancouver Games, the federal government has announced it will top up funding for elite athletes by $44 million over two years. The new funding is part of an overall boost to federal sports programs, such ParticipACTION and the Paralympics and Special Olympics, worth $62 million over two years.

While increases to benefits for families, youth and the unemployed are meager, they appear to be safe from the government chopping block. The budget includes an unequivocal pledge not to cut them in the future. The federal deficit fighting plan, the budget documents promise, will include no cuts to “major transfers to persons” nor will it feature cuts to transfers to other levels of government.

More human

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 12:39 PM - 3 Comments

In light of Parliament’s proroguing and subsequent rescheduling, with a plea from Liberal MP Michelle Simon in mind, Glen Pearson suggests a delegation of MPs to show support for the Paralympics.

So, in light of Michelle’s leadership, here’s my request to the Prime Minister. At the opening ceremony today you stated just how important these upcoming games are and how vital it is that the athletes know we are with them.  Vanoc president John Furlong stated that these upcoming games will be different because they will be more “human,” and who would deny it?  So Mr. Harper, let’s select two MPs from each party to travel as a delegation to show that we mean what you said.

Unlike the torch festivities from the historic Olympic Games, the paralympic flame is lit initially in Ottawa, right in front of Parliament, and then carried to the venues in British Columbia.  We started something special in Ottawa today, sir, right under the shadow of the Peace Tower.  Let’s make peace today, Prime Minister, and for the next ten days let’s permit our House leaders to work out a pairing arrangement so that we too in Parliament can show our own humanity.

Brian McKeever's blind determination

By Nicholas Köhler - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 3:56 PM - 4 Comments

Photograph by Chris Bolin

UPDATE: The Canadian cross-country team is not entering Brian McKeever in the 50-kilometre mass-start classic race on Sunday. Coach Inge Braten expressed regret, but stated that they could only put forth four names and the other four members of the team have had strong top-10 finishes during these Games. The coaches asked if they could enter a fifth competitor considering it was their home country but were denied.

Stargardt’s disease, the most common form of inherited juvenile macular degeneration—a form of blindness—started its work early on Bill McKeever. As far back as Grade 1, Bill, who grew up on a farm east of Calgary in the early ’50s, found he could not see the blackboard from one end to the other. Too much chit-chat with a pal in the back of class earned him a spot in the front, a move that did much to improve the view. For a while he tried glasses. “Didn’t do any good,” says Bill. “They just sort of put lenses in front of you and figured maybe you’re stupid because you can’t read farther down the chart.” Stargardt’s, which begins by wiping out the central vision, then erodes the peripheral, remained undiagnosed until he was 15 and a big-city optometrist said he’d get more help from the CNIB than any doctor.

Bill later became a schoolteacher, corralling three decades’ worth of kids despite retaining just 10 per cent of his vision (it’s now closer to six). With his wife, Jean, a school librarian, he had two sons: Robin, then Brian six years later. Both would go on to secure spots on Canadian Olympic cross-country ski teams—Robin at Nagano in 1998, Brian in Vancouver—circumstances all the more miraculous since their legally blind dad taught the pair how to ski and that one of them inherited Bill’s blindness. This year, 30-year-old Brian, with just 10 per cent vision, all of it peripheral—“it’s like seeing the donut, but not the Timbit,” he likes to say—becomes the first winter-sport athlete ever named to both Olympic and Paralympic teams. He’ll likely compete in the men’s 50-km on Feb. 28.

Brian, whose fine, almost elfin features belie an unmistakable confidence, downplays the achievement. “All of us have something that we need to overcome, whether it’s psychological, whether it’s physical,” he said during the unveiling of the cross-country team. No doubt he’s learned a few things from his coaches and teammates. But little compares to the lessons gleaned from the father with whom he shares his disease, and from the older brother who began as his idolized Olympic sibling, morphed into the partner who guided him to four Paralympic gold medals, and who finally became a competitor. “It’s shifted from me being the older brother, the wise old one, the athlete teaching the younger brother,” says Robin, 36. “Now he’s the one who’s all professional with his athletic career. I’m doing whatever I can to keep up.”

Continue…

That's not my coke officer

By Steve Maich - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 10:20 AM - 0 Comments

After complaining about Oscar Pistorius’s clearance to compete in the Olympics last week, I feel compelled to celebrate the reinstatement of another disabled athlete. (See? I’m a caring and sympathetic person. I’m also kind to children and small animals.)

So congratulations to Jeff Adams, the wheelchair racer has been through a horrible ordeal over the past while, after he tested positive for cocaine. The governing body has rightly ruled that his positive test wasn’t his fault.

Now, I admit, I’m not much of a night owl anymore. But I have been in a couple of clubs in my day (you shoulda’ seen me groovin’ to this).  But Adams apparently parties in an entirely different stratosphere from the one I’m familiar with. He was out at a bar a week before the 2006 Canadian championships when some unidentified woman shoved some cocaine into his face, and when Adams tried to demure (none for me thanks, I’m in training) a bunch of it ended up in his mouth. I can only assume this was intended as some sort of misguided pick-up attempt, or a bizarre act of generosity from a severely impaired partier.  Nevertheless, when he was tested for drugs he was using a catheter that was contaminated after the coke-in-the-face incident.

It sounds bizarre. Too bizarre to be made up in fact. And given that the episode seems entirely at odds with Adams’ character, the sport is now giving him the benefit of the doubt. I’m not sure if the C.O.C. is going to give Adams the $18,000 in athlete funding he lost as a result of his suspension…but if fairness has anything to do with it, they should reimburse him.