Blind Canadian skier becomes first winter-sport athlete to compete in both Olympic, Paralympic games

From the Calgary Herald in Canada:

CALGARY — Canada's Brian McKeever (pictured) will make history at the Winter Olympics next month in Vancouver.

The legally blind cross-country skier will be the first winter-sport athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Calgarian was named to the Canadian Olympic team on Friday during a news conference.

Also named to the Canadian team were former Olympic medallists Chandra Crawford and Sara Renner, both of Canmore, Dasha Gaiazova of Banff, Perianne Jones of Almonte, Ont., Madeleine Williams of Edmonton, Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont., Ivan Babikov of Canmore, George Grey of Rossland, B.C., Stefan Kuhn of Canmore and Alex Harvey of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que.

McKeever has won seven Parlympic medals with brother Robin serving as his guide.

At the Olympics, McKeever will rely the remaining 10 per cent of his vision — all of it periphery — to race for gold. A keen memory is his biggest asset.

“Knowing the course is really important when you don’t have a guide, because you can’t rely on anyone else to get you through it,” McKeever said last month after unofficially qualifying for the team with a stirring victory in a 50-kilometre Nor-Am race against able-bodied competitors.

“It’s really important to know where the dangers are, where the corners are, and where the tracks are.”

McKeever hopes to make tracks for other athletes with disabilities — regardless of whether they dream of competing in the Olympics or Paralympics.

For the record, he has big goals for both in Whistler.

“For me, the ideal season is to go to the Olympics and then do what I want to do at the Paralympics,” he said. “It would be a disaster for me to qualify for the Olympics and then race poorly in the Paralympics.

“It was never an either or thing for me.”

Five athletes — all in summer sports — have competed in the Paralympics and Olympics.

At the age of 19, McKeever’s outlook on the world changed — not by choice — when his vision began to cloud after a lifetime of clarity. The rising star on the Canadian junior cross-country ski team was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease. The same genetic disorder robbed his dad, William, and aunt of most of their vision as children. So McKeever knew that a life of blurriness awaited him.

But he still persevered in his ultimate goal of making it to the Olympics, even when outsiders questioned his sanity.

“I understand,” he said. “People hear some blind guy is trying to make it to the Olympics, and they think that’s crazy.”

No one is calling him crazy today.