Canadian cyclist feels students’ cheers, love
‘ They were in my legs pushing me,’ principal says
RIO DE JANEIRO• Nicole Clermont’s kids, all 560 of them, never got to see her race after all.
But the principal of Ecole du Boisjoli in Sherbrooke, Que., who is also a Paralympic cyclist for Team Canada, made sure to check in with them by speaker phone mere minutes after she finished the 3,000- metre individual pursuit on Thursday.
Turns out CBC wasn’t showing Clermont’s race live back home, as Clermont and the Canadian Paralympic Committee had hoped they would. She didn’t know until after the race was done.
“Disappointed,” she said. “But ( the students) were with me all the time. They were in my legs, pushing me. They were in my heart. We had that secret little sign, touching my nose before the race to tell them to persevere and that all students do a good job and I’m thinking about you. I touched my nose at least four times to make sure they would see it. But they know that I have done it.”
She finished last of nine competitors in her classification, just as she knew she would. She’s a road- racing specialist who was just using the track event at the Para- lympic Velodrome to get her 55- year- old l egs working hard in preparation for the time trial and road race to come. She had to race alone rather than in a pair against, because of the uneven number of entrants in her class and the fact she was ranked last. She knew that going in- to the race and was OK with it.
“I didn’t have to ( deal) with the stress of being passed and not drafting the person and being disqualified. I was just doing my own thing.”
It’ s only the second time she has ever run a 3,000-metre race on a track.
“Finding the right pace is really difficult and I started too quickly this morning. ... I am disappointed for the time (4:08.557) but hey, like I said before in French, I’m 55, I’m at the Paralympics and competing on the track. What else can I ask? And the food is good.”
So was the raucous crowd, dispelling fears that all Paralympic venues would be half empty.
“That was maybe t he problem, the people were cheering too hard and it got me going too fast on the first lap.”
They were responding to the urging of the PA announcer, who implored them to help her out because she was alone on the track.
“That was nice, but he shouldn’t have done that,” she laughed. “But hey, I’m just flying high right now.”
None of Canada’s cyclists advanced to finals on Thursday. Marie- Claude Molnar of St- Hubert, Que., was fifth in her classification in the women’s 3,000- metre individual pursuit, while the tandem of Daniel Chalifour of Mont- Laurier, Que., and pilot Jean- Michel Lachance were ninth in the men’s 4,000-metre pursuit.
IT’S ONLY THE SECOND TIME SHE HAS RUN A 3,000M RACE ON A TRACK.