WHISTLER, B.C. -
Brian McKeever will never forget his Olympic disappointment, but the Paralympic gold medal he won Monday helped remind him why he keeps racing.
McKeever's victory in the 20-kilometre cross-country ski race for the visually impaired gave Canada its first gold medal of the Winter Paralympics. The win came in an event where McKeever had finished second in his two previous Paralympics.
McKeever qualified for the Canadian Olympic team in January and was poised to become the first winter sport athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. But the Winter Games ended in heartbreak for McKeever after the Canadian coaching staff decided not to start him in his event, the gruelling 50 kilometres.
"It makes it a lot easier," McKeever said of Monday's gold. "We are never going to forget what happened but this helps us move on."
McKeever hasn't given up the dream of racing at both the Olympics and Paralympics in 2014 at Sochi.
"We will be trying," he said. "I want another shot at the Olympics for sure.
"We are already starting the plans to see how we get there."
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