Phil Chew is an icon in the
world of alpine skiing. He began skiing seriously in 1977 at age 25 after
losing his leg to an aggressive form of cancer, and even at age 38 he was ranked
second in the world. He is a three-time Paralympian, five-time Canadian
Champion, a U.S. Champion in downhill skiing, and a winner of the combined at
the European championship level.
Today he is the coach of the
B.C. Disabled Ski Team and is working both on the front lines and behind the
scenes to make the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games successful for B.C.
athletes and Whistler, which he calls home and where he is raising his family.
Today, front and centre for Chew
is getting sponsorship for the team to make sure athletes get to the Nor Am
races that are vital to their development.
But three years from now
Whistler will be in the midst of hosting the Paralympic Games so
Pique Newsmagazine’s
Clare Ogilvie
sat down with Chew in his Creekside
home to learn more about the athlete, and his hopes for the Games.
Pique:
How did you first get involved with
skiing?
Chew:
In 1977
I was diagnosed with cancer and lost my leg. I did a year of chemotherapy — and
it’s interesting because while I was doing that chemo I met Terry Fox and I got
to know him in the cancer clinic. There must be something in the water out west
here when you think of what Terry accomplished, then there’s Rick Hansen, Steve
Fonyo and even me. I learned to ski right after I finished my chemotherapy
through the B.C. Disabled Ski Team.
I
didn’t know how to ski, but I was athletic.
The
thing is there was an 80 per cent fatality rate with the type of bone cancer
that I had so I wasn’t very optimistic about my future. So everything became
about skiing to me, because it was exciting and it was one thing that made me
feel equal. I needed something to be equal. I wasn’t playing soccer anymore or
jogging like I used to so this was a sport that I could take on to (help) make
things equal.
Pique:
When was your first race?
Chew:
Someone
told me that Winter Park (Colorado) was the place to go. That was the hub for
disabled skiing in the U.S. So a buddy and I jumped in a station wagon and went
down to the U.S. I found out that the American National Championships were to
be held there in about a month… and I decided I wanted to race. I had cancer. I
didn’t know if I was going to be on this planet very long so I was saying, ‘hey
I have got to do as much as I can.’ So I got my skis and headed down to Winter
Park and went in my first ski race. I ended up second (in my group) and that
kind of got me hooked.
Pique:
What happened then?
Chew:
Well that winter I was a counsellor for new cancer patients and a nurse at the
cancer clinic told me about this girl who had lost her leg to the same type of
cancer as I did, Linda Chyzyk. I went to see her in the clinic and I told her
that I was skiing and I was all excited and it turned out she had skied before.
Then, at a dance I saw this other guy with one leg and I started to talk to him
and he told me he had been skiing for 12 years on one leg so I got his number
too. We all met at the Sylvia Hotel (in Vancouver) and we started talking about
skiing and we ended up calling ourselves the Hang Five Amputee Ski Team and
then we all joined the B.C. Disabled Ski Team. We all ended up making the
national ski team about three years later.
In
1984 we made the team that was going to the Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
That year I was lucky enough to put on a demonstration in Sarajevo for the
Olympics and I ended up sixth in the GS. That was the first time a disabled
athlete had put on a demonstration at the Olympics for the IOC.
Pique: You had several years of
amazing successes after that. But by 1990 some had written you off. Then you
were injured leading up the world championships in Winter Park. What happened?
Chew:
I was all set to go.
Then when I was training here on Whistler I crashed and I cracked three ribs
and for about a month there was in a lot of pain. So when I got to the world
championships I didn’t have very high expectations of what I could do.
No
one was even thinking of me doing well, and they had kinda written me off. So I
went balls to the wall, I had nothing to lose and I ended up winning three
silver medals and I was ranked second in the world.
Then
I went to the 1992 Olympics in Albertville (France). That was my last Olympics
and that was when they connected the able-bodied and Paralympics together, so
the Paralympics were just a couple of weeks later, like it is now.
I
was 40 and my wife was pregnant and I thought it was time for me to retire. I
had been on the team for 10 years by then.
The
next year, 1993, I started coaching the B.C. Disabled Ski Team and I am still
coaching it today.
Pique:
When you look back at your experience with the Paralympics how has it changed
over time?
Chew:
The courses have become more challenging. We are now under women’s FIS
(International Ski Federation) regulations so the vertical drop follows those
regulations and that is a big improvement. That was taken up after 1992.
All
the athletes wanted it to be more challenging. That is why, back at the
beginning when I was in Paralympics, I didn’t do as well — well, everyone
always has excuses. But on the more challenging courses I did really well. If
there were jumps and it was very fast on the downhill I won those or I was on
the podium. I liked that — I liked that a lot.
Pique:
Were you concerned when some of the Paralympic events were moved to Vancouver
after Whistler decided not to build a new ice arena, which would have been used
for ice sledge hockey?
Chew:
I was a little upset to start off with because they kind of got us up in
Whistler involved in the Olympics in part because we were going to get a new
skating rink. They dangled that carrot in front of us for quite a while and I
think that was one of the main reasons a lot of people in this valley said,
‘yeah, we are for the Olympics. We are going to get this skating rink, we are
going to get sledge hockey here, and after the Paralympics we will have this
legacy.’
The
sliding centre went from $55 million to $100 million and they… came up with the
money for that. On the other hand I do not want to see our community have to
service a huge debt. That would have left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth.
That said, having the sledge hockey down in Vancouver where they will have a
larger audience, will probably get more publicity and more coverage, well I
think that is cool.
Pique:
Should the Paralympics and the Olympics run at the same time?
Chew:
A lot of people are saying they would like the Olympics and Paralympics to be
connected. But I think if they were connected we would get lost in the shuffle.
It would be too big.
And
we would be competing against say, the men’s downhill, the big glory event.
I
am a disabled athlete and I am happy to be separate. A lot of the people who
think there should be just one Games are able-bodied people who are trying to
be politically correct. But I think it is great the way it is.
Pique:
Are you getting enough funding now?
Chew:
This year is the first year that the
Disabled Skiers Association of B.C., through funding from Pacific Sport, has
hired me as a full time coach with the B.C. Disabled Ski Team and that is a big
step in the right direction.
And,
at the national level, the number of services for athletes with a disability is
the same as able-bodied teams. It has really changed in the last few years and
I think that is because of the Paralympics — it is the catalyst to this
happening.
Every
sport is concerned that it won’t continue after the 2010 Games are over. But I
think it works in cycles.
The
equipment is very expensive. A sit-ski can cost $5,000. Local groups have
helped out a lot, for example the Rotary Club in Whistler… gave us $3,000 for
uniforms one year and they continue to help us make a difference.
Pique:
Tell me about the BC Disabled Ski Team?
Chew:
We have been identifying disabled skiers around the province through the
Disabled Skiers Association of B.C.’s Building our Best Program. As part of
that program my assistant coach, Dallis Smith, and I go around the province
putting on two-day clinics in places like Silver Star, Mt. Washington, here in
Whistler, and Sun Peaks. We identify athletes at these clinics and at the end
of the year we invite them to a clinic here in Whistler as part of a
recruitment drive. Usually we have about 10 athletes on the team at any one
time.
We
teach them how to ski better, introduce them to racing, and then help them get
their FIS licence and they start to knock down their FIS points. That way when
they move on to the National Development team, if they are lucky enough to do
so, they have already started to reduce their FIS points.
How
it works is that you need less than 100 FIS points to race in the World Cup at
the elite level. They need fewer than 150 points to race in the Olympics
because (the IOC/IPC) want a wider base so that more countries can enter more
skiers.
There
are three categories in skiing. There are sit skiers, blind skiers, and
stand-up skiers and they are factored so there are different levels of
disabilities in each in category. For the sit skiers it depends on how high
their break is (along their spine) and their mobility, for example. It is the
same with blind skiers — there is totally blind, which is B1, partially blind,
B3, and more blind, B2.
Officials
know from 25 years of keeping track how to reach an accurate factoring system.
But it is an on-going thing.
Pique:
What do you think the legacies will be from the Paralympics?
Chew:
I am hoping that we will get Ptarmigan as a designated training hill. It will
be widened and the tree islands will be taken out for the Olympics. I am hoping
that after the Olympics there will be a spot there for us on an on-going basis
— a permanent seven-days-a-week training area if we wanted it. That would be
great.
…To
my way of thinking about this, the U.S. has a war going on right now and they
have 20,000 GIs coming back with all different disabilities and they are going
to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. The best way to combat those
numbers is by having a better training facility.
The
athletes’ centre will also be a fully integrated accessible place so that when
we have an event here we will have a place for people to stay.
Accessibility
will be another legacy. I hope Vancouver will be more accessible and I think
Whistler could be the most accessible resort in the world.
I
look at it two ways. If it is accessible for a guy in a wheelchair then it is
accessible for a mother with twins in a buggy and the old guy with a cane, and
that is the way it should be.
For
the resort, when a disabled person comes here he usually has two or three
people with him and those people rent hotel rooms, they rent gear, they buy
stuff, they go out for dinner, so it is a win-win situation when accessibility
is improved.
Q
How is it going to feel if a B.C. athlete with a disability is on the podium in
2010?
A:
It will be great. It gets me warm in the heart to think that I have been able
to contribute a little bit. But I love this. I love skiing.