Let the Games Begin!
Last July myEBA announced that Vancouver office employee Jamie Stirling, M.Sc, P.Geo, with the V132 (Water and Marine) Group had been named to the Canadian Olympic Team and would be representing Canada as a guide for a visually impaired cross country skier and biathlete at the Paralympics in 2010. Well that time has finally arrived and the Games begin Friday, March 12 with the opening ceremonies in Vancouver at BC Place.
Jamie will be in the parade of athletes during the opening ceremonies along with the other members of Team Canada and the rest of the athletes from around the world. The Canadian Team checked into the Athlete's Village in Whistler on March 8 after a week long training camp in Canmore at the 1988 Olympic cross country venue. The venue has been upgraded since 1988 and currently hosts world cup races.
The pre-Olympic training week from March 8 to 12 has been very busy but non-stop excitement. The team has been training at Whistler Olympic Park every day and the evenings are spent socializing in the athlete’s village with all the other competitors from around the world. Most speak some English but often the Canadian Team relies on translators to help us out.
Jamie will be guiding Alexie Novikov who is classified as a B3 blind skier. B3 athletes have about 5-10% vision and for comparison a B1 athlete is totally blind. Each class is given a different handicap percentage and time adjustments are made after the races to adjust the real time to the final time. The only other Canadian blind male cross country skier to make the National Team was Brian McKeever who got a lot of press coverage the past few weeks by almost competing in the able bodied Olympic Games in February.
The races for the cross country and biathlon competitors begin on March 13, the morning after the opening ceremonies. There are six events at Whistler Olympic Park (two biathlon and four cross country races). Jamie and Alexie are set to race in five of the six events. The sixth event is the team relay and the selection for that team is made only two days before the event.
For those that are interested in catching some of Jamie’s races, there are still tickets available for all of the events and the cost is less than $20 per ticket. However, rumour has it that the opening and closing ceremonies are sold out. The following link shows all the events in Whistler. The right hand column shows all of Jamie’s races in Whistler Paralympic Park which includes biathlon and cross country. http://www.whistler.com/olympics/schedule
CTV will be broadcasting the opening and closing ceremonies and most of the races. However, most will not be shown live. Check out the CTV website for the schedule of live and delayed broadcasts. However, the opening and closing ceremonies and all of the races can be seen live on line at Paralympic Sport TV. www.paralympicsport.tv
Enjoy the games and cheer on Team Canada. Here are a few photos from the pre-Olympic week leading up to the games.
By: Jamie Stirling
This page was last updated on: 3/15/2010 10:07:00 AM
