Hero McKeever picked for Olympics and Paralympics (News Feature)

By Cord Heine and John Bagratuni Jan 25, 2010, 12:32 GMT

Vancouver/Hamburg - Canadian cross-country skier Brian McKeever doesn't see himself as a hero but has this status as the first winter sports athlete to compete at Olympics and Paralympics.

McKeever, 30, who is legally blind, has been nominated into the home team for the February 12-28 Vancouver Games and will then also compete at the Paralympics there the following month.

While not a medal favourite, participating at the elite level is a triumph for the man who was diagnosed with Stargardt's Disease, a macular degeneration or loss of central vision.

'Really, it was more a personal goal of trying to achieve my best level,' he said after being picked for Team Canada.

'Being the first to do both Winter Games, if that captures people's imagination as far as what the dream can turn into, if it shows what Paralympians are capable of doing, that they're training at the same level as able-bodied athletes, then that's fine.'

McKeever was diagnosed with the illness in 1998 while competing on the junior circuits and declared legally blind two years later. He joined the disabled circuit and won two gold medals each at the 2002 and 2006 Paralympics.

The 2007 world championships in Sapporo was the first big stepping stone on the road to Vancouver which he named 'the realization of a dream' at the time. McKeever came 21st in the 15km race, 33rd over 50km and 39th in the double pursuit.

Competing at the able-bodied top level is tough because he is not allowed to ski with his brother Robin as a guide. Instead, he follows other athletes or memorises the course in non-mass start races.

'If I am close enough to the guy in front of me, parts of him disappear. A few metres back, entire bodies will disappear. Climbing is easy enough because you are going slower. On downhills and corners I have to be a little bit careful,' he said of his hardship on the slopes.

McKeever qualified for Vancouver by winning a 50km race on the North American circuit on December 22.

He will compete over the distance at the Olympics on the closing day, February 28, and possibly in the 15km as well. Three cross-country and two biathlon races are then on his agenda at the Paralympics.

'He is an elite-level athlete, visually impaired or not. He is an athlete first, a person with a disability second,' said Canadian Para-Nordic team boss Bjorn Taylor at the 2007 worlds.

While McKeever is the first winter Paralympian to cross over, five athletes have done the same at the summer level: South African swimmer Natalie du Toit (leg amputee), US runner Marla Runyan (visually impaired), Polish table tennis player Natalia Partyka (born without a right hand and forearm), Italian archer Paola Fantato (polio) and New Zealand archer Neroli Fairhall (paraplegic).

Disabled athletes also competed at the Games before the Paralympics were fully linked with the Olympics in 1992. Hungarian marksman Karoly Takacs claimed shooting gold 1948 and 1952 after losing his right hand in a hand-grenade explosion.