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Paralympic team claims 13 medals, sixth in standings

Canadians ‘probably the most successful team, relative to our size’

Canada had some good luck and some bad luck at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy last week, and finished sixth among nations with a relatively small delegation of just 33 athletes – including 11 alpine skiers, a 15-member sledge hockey team, a four member wheelchair curling team, and a handful of cross-country skiers.

"We’re a small team, but for our size we’re extremely competitive," said Canadian Paralympic Committee president Henry Wohler. "Of course we’re looking to increase the size of our team, but right now, relative to our size, we’re probably the most successful team out there."

The Paralympics ran from March 10 to 19, with almost 500 athletes representing 39 nations in five disciplines – alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling, a new sport that was added to the program this year.

The big Canadian winner this year was visually impaired skier Brian McKeever and his guide/brother Robin McKeever. Brian McKeever won gold in the 5 km and 10 km freestyle cross-country events, a silver in the 20 km classic, and a bronze in the men’s 7.5 km biathlon – an event he was not expected to podium in because of his shooting abilities.

Next on the list was Vancouver’s Lauren Woolstencroft, who earned a gold in the standing giant slalom, a silver in the super-G, and was fourth in the downhill. She was on pace to earn a podium in the slalom as well, with the fastest first run of the morning, but went off course in the afternoon to wind up with a DNF.

Chris Williamson, a visually impaired alpine skier, and his guide Bobby Taylor also won two medals, a bronze in the downhill and a silver in super G. Williamson’s goal was to earn medals in all four disciplines but he fractured his shin in giant slalom training.

The only other athlete to win two medals was cross-country sit skier Colette Bourgonje, who won bronze in the women’s 5 km and 10 km.

The individual medal winners were rookie alpine sit skier Kimberley Joines of Edmonton, who also added a bronze medal in the super G, and the gold medal ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling teams.

The ice sledge hockey team beat Norway 5-0 before a crowd of over 4,000 spectators on the last Saturday of the Paralympics. Most Canadians didn’t see the game live unless they tuned into the online broadcast offered by the International Paralympic Committee as CBC made the decision not to broadcast the final live.

The wheelchair curling team defeated Great Britain 7-4 in the final game, largely because of the scary accuracy of team skip Chris Daw who turned several losing ends into winning ends.

According to the Canadian Paralympic Committee, this year’s tally 13 medals is more significant than the team’s 15 medal tally from the Salt Lake City Paralympic Games. The reason for that is the decision to condense several classifications in alpine and cross-country skiing into three main classes; standing, sitting and visually impaired. Times were adjusted for each athlete according to their level of disability to further level the playing field.

As a result of the decision to condense categories, there were almost 50 fewer medals presented this year. Despite the fact that it was significantly harder to win those medals, athletes compete with the same system in place at the World Cup level, and believe that the medals presented mean more because the field of athletes was much larger. In the men’s standing and sitting alpine events, there were over 50 athletes competing in each discipline.

Paralympic stats

• Team Canada was the only country to win medals in all four sports, with gold in hockey, curling, Nordic and alpine skiing;

• 25 of 33 Canadian athletes competing in Torino returned home with medals;

• 11 Canadian athletes competing in their first Paralympics won medals.

Most of the athletes credited their success to an increase in support and funding through programs like 2010 Own the Podium, and partnerships with organizations like Alpine Canada, Cross Country Canada, Hockey Canada and Curling Canada.

"There’s definitely a lot more support this year than in the past, which has been great," said Woolstencroft. "A lot of us have careers and things, but training and competing is really a full-time job for us. When there’s snow we’re out their racing and training, and when the snow is gone we’re doing dryland training for the next season."

The $110 million 2010 Own The Podium program will put half that money into national winter sports organizations, and the other half into sport research and development. That’s good news for Canada’s Paralympians, who often rely more heavily on equipment than able-bodied athletes.

Currently there are no universal standards for sit skis or ice sledges, which means there is a lot of room to improve the design and performance of Paralympic gear.

"Were constantly tinkering with our skis," said sit skier Kimberley Joines. "My first sit ski I wasn’t happy with at all, but this one is a lot better and I’ve kind of got it to the point where I just make a few small adjustments here and there depending on the course."

According to Whistler’s Stacey Kohut, a former Paralympic sit ski champion, the right equipment can make the difference between fourth place and the podium.

"Back in the day I was the first skier to use shocks, and now everyone is using them," said Kohut. But you look around and all of the sit skis are still really different in their design. I know the Americans, like Kevin Bramble and Christopher Devlin-Young, are constantly working on their sit skis, and it really showed in the downhill."

Kohut says a good sit ski has to be perfectly aligned and balanced, and the shock tension has to be set for each hill – too tight and the snapback can bounce a skier off course; too loose, and the skier bobbles too much and can’t pick up enough speed in the corners.

"You don’t get much speed out of the start gate, everybody’s pretty much the same, you have to look for speed around the corners, and load your shock so you can come out each corner with a little extra speed. You should be at your fastest at the bottom of the course," he said.

Whistler will host the entire Paralymic Games in 2010, with the exception of the opening ceremonies which will take place in Vancouver.