Todd Nicholson's 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympic Games experience is under way
Posted Mar 12, 2010 By Theresa Fritz
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Tweet ThisEMC Sports - The Olympic flame may have been extinguished in Vancouver Feb. 28, but it will be relit again March 12 as the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games take over the city.
A total of 1,300 athletes representing more than 40 countries will be competing in five sports - alpine skiing, nordic skiing, sledge hockey, wheelchair hockey, and biathlon. This year's games will be televised nationally for the first time and it is expected that sledge hockey will be the biggest draw - just like hockey in the Winter Games a few weeks ago.
The men's national sledge hockey team is looking to defend gold on Canadian soil and looking forward to that challenge is Dunrobin resident Todd Nicholson. Nicholson, considered to be one of the top six sledge hockey players in the world, was first introduced to the sport in 1987 during his stay at the Ottawa Rehabilitation Centre, after a car accident left him paralyzed. He has been part of a number of sledge team achievements including two world championships (2000, 2008), one Paralympic gold medal (2006), one World Sledge Hockey Challenge gold medal (2007), Paralympic silver medal (1998), Paralympic bronze medal (1994) and two World Cup championships (1991, 1992), to name but a few of the team's accomplishments.
FAMILY BLOG ONLINE
Nicholson posted some of his thoughts on his family's blog - nicholsonsinvancouver.blogspot.com - Feb. 24, three days before he left Calgary for Vancouver. He arrived at the Olympic Paralympic Village in Vancouver March 6 and will call that site home until March 23.
"The Opening Ceremony will be on March 12, 2010 and I hope to keep everyone up to date with my travels during the games..." he wrote.
In an earlier interview with the EMC, Nicholson admitted this would be his last Paralympic Games.
"This will be my last Paralympics. I don't know if I will step down from the national team right away. I might stick around for a few more years," he stated.
While winning a gold medal is tops on everyone's mind heading to the games, the sledge hockey veteran says other countries are getting stronger, largely due to the fact their national sporting bodies have put Paralympic sports under the same umbrella as the able-bodied sports. In Canada, Hockey Canada oversees all competitive national hockey - from men's to women's and Paralympics as well.
"Canada is still leading the way in training but the U.S. is very well versed (in the sport)," Nicholson noted. "They (Hockey Canada) only see one colour (gold). We are expected to do that (win gold)."
Please watch the EMC and www.emconline.ca for updates on the men's sledge hockey during the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.
The men's sledge hockey team's preliminary round play begins March 13 at 10 a.m. (Pacific time) versus Italy and continues March 14 against Sweden at 1:30 p.m. and March 16 against Norway at 8:30 p.m.
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