Cagers relish shot in sport’s spiritual birthplace
Canadian team that has medalled in three straight Games stoked to perform in biggest tournament ever
Five years ago, Tyler Miller was left a paraplegic following a crane accident.
“I got some steel dropped on me. I thought my life was over.”
But he found wheelchair basketball and, at age 27, is headed to his first Paralympic Games later this summer. He can’t stop beaming.
“I don’t think your [ digital recorder] can pick up how I feel right now,” the Kitchener, Ont., native said Tuesday after a national team training session at the Richmond Olympic Oval. “It’s a once- in- a- lifetime opportunity and all that work ... all those days in the gym are paying off. My friends still have their life and I have my own amazing life.”
Tuesday marked 100 days until the start of competition at the London Paralympics. And while Miller views it as once in a lifetime, it can be more than that.
Joey Johnson of Winnipeg is one of three national team veterans preparing to play in a fifth Paralympics.
“It is exciting. My first one in 1996, I was a young kid and I remember just being wowed, so many people, so many athletes.”
“And ’ 96, to be honest, the Games sucked,” he added of the young Canadian squad’s fifth- place finish.
Gold medals followed in 2000 and 2004, with a silver in 2008.
“By the time we got to Sydney in 2000, and even though Sydney was really ‘ Wow!’, we were more level- headed about it. We knew what our mission was. In ’ 96, I almost think we forgot about the basketball part. We were just like ‘ Oh, we can do this, do this.’ We were kids and it was so exciting.”
Johnson, 37, is one of three players, including B. C.’ s Richard Peters, heading to their fifth Games.
The London Games will be the largest ever, with 4,200 athletes from 165 countries set to compete in 20 sports.
Britain is the spiritual birthplace of the Paralympic movement.
It was at the Stoke Mandeveille Games in 1948 that 16 injured war veterans competed in archery on a small grassy area behind a hospital that treated spinal cord injuries.
“Yeah, I think there’s a little bit of historic value [ to competing in Britain],” said Johnson.
“And [ Britain] has always been one of the top countries in the world. They have a passion for amateur sport, always treated their men’s wheelchair basketball team like royalty.” BE A SUPER FAN: The Canadian Paralympic Committee marked 100 days to go on Tuesday by launching a Facebook Super Fan contest.
Fans must come up with a creative nickname, photo and brief description of what makes them a Paralympic Super Fan.
The winner, based on voting on Facebook, will win a trip for two to London, accommodation and tickets to the opening ceremonies and selected events.