Brian McKeever on Monday (March 15) salved over some of the hurt of being denicd his chance to compete in the Olympic Games, winning "the medal we wanted in the race we wanted."
Skiing with his brother and guide Robin McKeever, the visually impaired cross-country skier from Canmore, Alta., became the first Canadian to win a gold medal in the Paralympic Games on Canadian soil, finishing the 20-kilometre men's visually impaired event in 51 minutes, 14.7 seconds, 41.8 seconds ahead of second-place Nikolay Polukhin of Russia. Vasili Shablouski of Belarus took the bronze, 1:09.2 behind McKeever.
McKeever, who was named to the Canadian Olympic Nordic skiing team only to be denied his chance to compete when coaches chose four other skiers to compete in the men's 50-kilometre event last month, previously had won four Paralympic gold medals and two silvers. But he had never won the 20 km until Monday's race at Whistler Olympic/Paralympic Park, that is.
"This is the one we've been working toward, the one we've never won before," McKeever said. "This was eight years in the making."
Robin McKeever, a former national team skier who has guided his brother who suffers from Stargard's disease which limits his vision to only 10 per cent for the past three Paralympics, said he could be partly responsible for Brian's lack of Paralympic gold in the 20 km at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.
"In Torino I was actually sick for the 20K and couldn't guide Brian to the fullest of my ability, and he was silver by about nine seconds," Robin McKeever said.
Brian McKeever actually had a slight head cold for Monday's race, but he still managed to ski well. He sat in fourth place, 5.5 seconds behind the leader, at the 2.3-kilometre split before pulling into a tie with Germany's Wilhelm Brem at the five-kilometre mark. He took the lead over the next 2.3 km and steadily increased the lead from there.
The two brothers said that because of the Paralympic system of classifying athletes based on their differing levels of ability, they never stopped giving it their best effort. Under that system, an athlete in a different classification level who finishes behind you might be named the winner after the classes are figured in.
"It wasn't comfortable," Brian said. "With the percentage system the way it is, you have to keep pushing all the way."
McKeever said winning gold in the 20 km helped him get past his Olympic disappointment.
"It still hurts, and you never forget, but you've got to move on and look forward to the next race," he said.
"I want another shot at the Olympics, for sure," he said, referring to the Games in Sochi, Russia, that will take place in 2014. "We're already planning our lives to see how we can get there."
He said becoming the first Canadian to win Paralympic gold on home soil is also satisfying, as is having the chance to raise the profile of Paralympic sport in Canada.
He added that he was inspired on Sunday (March 14) by watching teammate Collette Bourgonje win a silver medal in the women's sitting 10 km event.
"It's just fun to be able to give back to the Canadian fans, who have been so supportive," McKeever said.
Canada's Alexei Novikov and guide Jamie Stirling placed 13th in 1:08:47.6.
Mikhaylov takes gold
Russia grabbed two medals in the men's standing 20 km race on Monday as Kirill Mikhaylov claimed gold in 52:07.7, beating out second-place Nils-Erik Ulset of Norway by just over a minute. Russia's Vladimir Konokov took the bronze medal, 2:01.5 behind Mikhaylov.
Whistlerite Tyler Mosher used the race as a bit of a training run, skiing the first five km as a time trial in just over 18 minutes before dropping out. Canada's Mark Arendz did not make it to the starting line.
