Inspiring
athletes
Caroline Calve was
the only Aboriginal athlete
to compete at 2010 Olympics
(Cover photo) Canadian snowboarder Caroline Calve, of Aylmer, QC, speaks to the media during a press conference February 11th at the Main Press Centre in Vancouver just one day before the opening ceremonies of 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.
Aboriginals played a huge part in the social and cultural events connected to Vancouver’s Olympic Games, but when it comes to competing for medals, snowboarder Caroline Calve was the only Aboriginal Canadian who made it to the 2010 Olympics.
Her excitement was obvious in a February 7th blog when she stated, “It was official on January 25th that I had qualified for the Olympic Games! Obviously, really exciting news!!! I am now training out west in interior BC before we head to Vancouver for the opening ceremonies. I can’t wait! For me the opening ceremony will definitely make it feel more real… all this Olympic talk, I still can’t believe I’m going!”
(Above) Caroline Calve in action. Calve is proud of her Aboriginal roots.
Her paternal great-grandmother is of Algonquin heritage.
While the country had high hopes for our snowboarding team, the competition is tough and hundredths of seconds can make or break an athlete’s chances. So was the case for Calve on February 26th when she completed her second qualification run earning a combined time of 1:26:38. The finish was not enough to qualify Calve for the final.
Alexa Loo was the only Canadian woman to qualify and was then eliminated from competition by .01 seconds after Germany’s Anke Karstens crossed the finish line first in the eighth final, leaving no riders from North America to advance to the quarterfinal.
The lack of Aboriginal athletes competing for Canada is nothing new – Canada’s Summer Olympics team in Beijing had only two Aboriginal athletes, one a pentathlete and the other a wheelchair basketball player.
Alwyn Morris, a Mohawk from Kahnawake, Quebec, is the only Canadian Aboriginal to win an Olympic gold medal – he won gold and bronze medals in kayaking at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. (See story in "Olympics" section)
Morris is one of only three Aboriginal North American athletes to win Olympic gold medals, joining great American runners Billy Mills and Jim Thorpe.
Sports academics say Canada needs to do more to fund and nurture Aboriginal athletes, but a B.C. Aboriginal leader who started an Aboriginal snow boarding program, says it’s only a matter of time before a Canadian Aboriginal snow boarder reaches the Olympic podium.
The First Nations Snowboard Team (FNST) offers coaching for recreational and high-performance snowboarders of varying abilities, along with youth leadership, mentoring and instructor-training programs. The FNST consists of 12 provincial teams, benefiting almost 200 recreational and high-performance athletes from more than 12 Nations across British Columbia.
While the 2010 Olympics didn’t bring Caroline Calve a gold medal, she did earn a gold along with two of her teammates at the FIS Nor-Am (North American)Cup snowboarding event February 5th prior to the Olympics. The Canadian women swept the podium.
Calve grabbed the gold in women’s racing by posting the fastest combined time of the race. Calgary’s Kimiko Zakreski took the silver medal, while Alexa Loo of Richmond, B.C. won the bronze.