Flag bearer McKeever ready to lead Team Canada
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Canadian Paralympic star Brian McKeever grew up without a television.
But days before the 1988 Winter Games opened in Calgary, his parents took their long-broken TV set in to have it repaired, and the cross-country skier’s Olympic love affair began when Canada marched into the stadium for the opening ceremonies.
“You don’t necessarily understand what the Olympics are at the time, but if it’s important enough for mom and dad to get the TV fixed, it must be pretty big,” said McKeever, who was in Grade 3 then. “So we watched the whole Games from opening to closing . . . it’s always a big event, right?”
Today, the 10-time gold medallist will carry Canada’s flag into the opening ceremonies of the Pyeongchang Paralympics, leading a Canadian team 55-athletes strong.
“I’m sure it will be [emotional],” McKeever said through a big grin. “Everything about sport is, good and bad. And I think that’s partly why we do this, to experience all the stuff, and so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.”
McKeever, who’s never marched in the opening ceremonies in his four previous Paralympics — his racing schedule has been too demanding — posed for photos after Thursday’s announcement at Canada Paralympic House.
“I’m a proud Canadian, and I’ve been fortunate to represent my country on the field of play out there, through a lifetime of sport that’s brought a lot of riches of experience,” he said. “This is something that you dream about doing, and it’s actually a nervous time. I think I’m more nervous to carry the flag than I am to race.”
The 38-year-old visually impaired skier from Canmore, Alta., has owned the top of the Paralympic medal podium, going undefeated in Games competition since 2006.
He was poised to make history in 2010 in Vancouver as the world’s first athlete to compete in both the winter Olympics and Paralympics in the same year. But Canada’s Olympic cross-country coaches opted to enter four other skiers in the men’s 50-kilometre race and not McKeever. The pain of being the odd man out, he said, stung for a long time.
He did make history as the first Canadian to be named to both a Paralympic and Olympic team in the same year, and a few weeks after the Olympics, he shrugged off his heartbreak by racing to three Paralympic gold medals.
Four years later in Sochi, McKeever got tangled up with a Russian skier near the start of the one-kilometre race, but clambered back to his feet and he and guide Graham Nishikawa caught up to win gold.
The skier admitted his competitive spirit may show itself when he walks into Pyeongchang Stadium today.
“Racer mentality probably means I’ll be catching the teams in front,” he said, with a laugh. “I think there will probably be people there to keep me in place. Which is good... Blind guy will just wander all over.”
McKeever competed in crosscountry skiing from the age of 13, and raced at the world junior championships in 1998. A year later, at the age of 19, he started to lose his eyesight and was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, an inherited condition of macular degeneration that also claimed his father’s vision.
The disease has robbed him of his central vision, but he still has 100 per cent peripheral vision — he likes to tell people he can see the donut but not the Timbit.
Canada’s goal for these Games is to improve on the 16 medals, including seven gold, won at the Sochi Paralympics four years ago. Canada was fourth in Russia in total medals.