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Nordic dreams fulfilled
S.L. athlete wins his 2nd silver medal of Games
By Jesse Hyde
Deseret News Paralympics specialist
SOLDIER HOLLOW — Salt Lake's Steve Cook won his second silver of the 2002 Paralympics Tuesday, becoming only the second American ever to win two nordic medals in the same Paralympics.
American Robert Balk also took silver in one of three men's 10 km sit-ski races, a result that made his mother cry with joy in the stands.
Cook had hoped for gold in the 10 km standing race, and until the last skier finished, it appeared he had it. The gold went instead to Norway's Ulset Nils-Erik, an 18-year-old competing in his first Paralympics.
"It was a little bit nerve-racking standing there in the finish pen and being in first place and waiting for the last guy to come in," Cook said. "I had forgot about him. I thought I had it in the bag."
Absent from the race was favorite Thomas Oelsner, a German who has won two gold medals here. Oelsner was suspended by the International Paralympic Committee before the race began. Oelsner must return gold medals he won in the 5K and the biathlon after he failed the drug screen March 8, testing positive for the anabolic steroid methenolone.
There was a total of 12 races Tuesday, including races for standing skiers, visually impaired skiers and skiers who sit in a sled and push with their arms.
Norway's Ragnhild Mykelbust, the winningest Winter Paralympian of all time, skied in the women's sit-ski race, taking her third gold of these Games. The 58-year-old has now won 15 Paralympic gold medals.
"Words can't describe her, I can only hope that I can get close to what she's achieved," said American Candace Cable, who finished fourth in that race.
Canadian Brian McKeever, a partially blind athlete who skis with his brother as a guide, won his second gold of these Games in the 10 km event for visually impaired men. McKeever's time was the fastest 10 km mark of the day in all classes.
Of the 30 races McKeever competes in a year, 20 are with able-bodied athletes. He rates himself as one of the top five cross country skiers in Canada and hopes to compete in the Olympics.
"My vision really isn't a problem because skiing is mainly a feel thing. If you catch an edge you don't have time to look at the ground and stop yourself from falling," he said. "Sometimes going down hills and finding the tracks is difficult."
When that happens, his brother Robin points to the track. Without Robin skiing in front of him, Brian may have not finished Tuesday's race.
On one of the first downhill slopes in the course, a Japanese skier fell in front of the McKeevers. Brian guesses he was going about 50 km an hour and all he could see was a flurry of red.
His brother, who has full vision, could see the Japanese skier had fallen directly in the path they wanted to use. He yelled out "Traffic!" as loud as he could, helping his brother avoid a disaster.
But that wasn't even Brian's closest call — he said he was skiing so close to his brother he almost crashed into him.
"He was flying so fast at the end I just got out of the way," Robin said.
E-MAIL: jhyde@desnews.com
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March 13, 2002
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