I didn’t pretend to know who Brian McKeever is, until recently.
In fact, my exposure to Paralympians really only began a few years ago when we started planning to have the 2010 Canadian Sponsorship Forum in Whistler, during the Games.
But over the past few months I have been gradually becoming more immersed in the incredible story of Brian McKeever. Even more so recently when I opened my Globe & Mail to see the full-page Vitamin Water ad triumphing his accomplishments. Only then I realized Brian McKeever would be one of the biggest stories of the year.
What he has accomplished is unbelievable.
A former junior national cross-country ski team star, McKeever was diagnosed at 19 with Stargardt’s disease. In just two years he became legally blind.
When I first read this I thought about all the things I experienced as a 19 year old. As a 20 year. As a 21 year old. To think that McKeever went from star athlete to blind during that period, really hit home.
But obviously it did not slow him down. He began training first for Paralympic events and then able-bodied events. In no time he reached the pinnacle of the Paralympic podium, winning gold four times between the 2002 and 2006 Games.
He didn’t stop there. He not only became the first Canadian athlete with a disability to compete in able-bodied race, he finished 24th in the World Championships!!!
I couldn’t imagine being the 24th best at anything in the world. Let alone to be doing it with such a disadvantage.
Now he has gone on to an even higher accomplishment, becoming the first winter athlete ever to qualify for both the Olympics and Paralympics. In my mind that alone should make him the top story in Canadian athletics for the year.
The Olympics gets a ton of exposure, at times dwarfing the Paralympics. The accomplishments of this Canmore Alberta native will be an unbelievable boost to the Paralympic movement.
My friend Henry at the Canadian Paralympic Committee told me that Paralympians eat INSURMOUNTABLE for breakfast. From what I have learned of Brian McKeever, he may eat INSURMOUNATBLE for breakfast, lunch and dinner!