Blind skier set to make Olympic team
Canada's McKeever could be 1st Paralympian to compete in a Winter Games
Last Updated: Thursday, January 21, 2010 | 5:02 PM ET
By Lindsey Craig, CBC Sports
Brian McKeever, left, is led by his sighted guide, brother Robin McKeever. (Nick Laham/Getty Images)It will surely be one of the most watched moments of the Vancouver Olympics — but when cross-country skier Brian McKeever competes, he won't be able to see it clearly for himself.
McKeever, a visually impaired cross-country skier from Canmore, Alta., is set to be the first Paralympian to compete in a Winter Games.
Cross Country Canada will announce the Olympic team on Friday but the organization made every indication that McKeever's name will be on the roster.
A statement says "the contingent of athletes will include the world's first winter-sport athlete who will compete in the Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games in the same year."
Olympic enthusiasts may recall other Paralympians who have competed in Olympic events — five athletes in total — but all have been involved in summer sports.
On his website, McKeever he says it has been his dream to compete in both an Olympics and Paralympics at the same Games.
That possibility came closer to reality when McKeever won a 50-kilometre Nor-Am trials race at the Canmore Nordic Centre in December.
McKeever, 30, began competing as a Paralympian in 2002. That year, he collected two gold and two silver medals.
At the 2006 Games in Torino, he improved his performance, winning four golds, one silver and a bronze medal.
As a Paralympian, he competes with a sighted guide, and in McKeever's case, it's been his brother Robin, a nine-time able-bodied Canadian national champion in the sport.
As an able-bodied athlete, one of McKeever's best results was a fourth-place finish at the 2000 Senior National Championships in the 15-kilometre event.
On the world stage, he came 21st in the 15K free event at the 2007 FIS World Ski Championships in Japan.
McKeever began skiing at the age of three and was competing by age 12.
But in 1998, he was diagnosed with Stargaard's disease, which involves loss of central vision, or as he describes it, "seeing the doughnut but not the Timbit."
Olympic cross-country ski events are scheduled to begin Feb. 15 at Whistler Olympic Park.
The Paralympics are slated for March 12-21.
