By Dan Plouffe
Name: David Blair
Sport: Rowing
Age: 20
Associations: Ottawa Rowing Club, Carleton University Ravens
Previous Paralympics: None
Real or imagined, athletes often talk about a snowball effect when it comes to winning Olympic medals. Seeing a fellow countryman capture a medal fuels them towards their own triumph. Count David Blair as one of the believers.
One morning recently in St. Catharines, a couple dozen people were gathered by the boathouse to watch the Olympic rowing on a projector before getting out on the water themselves.
Nearing the end of a tough six-week training camp, Blair’s crew was energized by the Canadian eights’ silver medal performances in London, and then went out and had a great session as they prepared for their Paralympic races on Aug. 31 and Sept. 2.
“Now we’re all really pumped and energized for our workout tomorrow,” Blair explains. “It carries over, and that’s important.”
Born legally blind, Blair’s rise to the Paralympic Games was fairly swift, although it did take some encouragement from Ottawa Rowing Club coach Jeff Dunbrack – also the national team coach – to make him realize the possibilities.
“Before I got a call from him in May 2010, I was just a club athlete,” the 18-year-old recalls. “I wasn’t ever planning on trying out for any team until Jeff got that spark lit.”
There was an invitation to a training camp to fill in for a sick crew member, the boat went a bit faster with Blair in it, and before he knew it, he was a world champion, winning gold at the 2010 worlds in New Zealand.
Blair was similarly influenced in the other area he excels in – academics.
“Ms. MacGregor, my Grade 11 English teacher, kicked my butt into gear,” smiles the Merivale High School grad. “She caught me once answering the homework questions from my locker on my way to her classroom.”
Blair had to stay after class, and even though most of his scribbled answers were correct, his teacher took some extra time to help him find areas that would get him interested and involved.
Now, even as he prepares for the biggest event in his sport, the Carleton University humanities student is still taking a couple courses to “keep balanced,” and enjoys reading during breaks between sessions.
Road to the top
The Canadian LTA4+ mixed coxed four adaptive rowing crew – which also includes Meghan Montgomery, Victoria Nolan, Tony Theriault and coxswain Kristen Kit – spent two weeks out of every month in Florida during the winter, and has been together most of the time since the ice thawed.
“That’s been really important,” highlights Blair, also a top competitor in able-bodied competition who owns several provincial medals. “In rowing, so much of the sport is moving together, and knowing what your crew is going to do in a given situation, so it’s integral to get this time together.”
The youngest member of the team, Blair has been warned that the Paralympics can be an overwhelming experience that is very different from worlds. He’s not entirely sure what to expect, but he has a plan to cope regardless.
“The way I’ll be able to stay focused is by breaking it up from every day, now until then,” explains Blair, who will have his parents with him in London, although his brother will have to watch from home since he’ll be in the midst of tryouts for the Carleton Ravens soccer team. “I just worry about, for this day, for this one morning, this one practice, this one hour, am I doing everything I can to be ready?
“If I can answer yes for each day leading up to the Paralympics, then I can have confidence in knowing that I’ve done everything I need to do.”
While inspired by Canadian counterparts to replicate their success, there’s one thing the Paralympic crew would change if they could – to pull off that upset of the top-ranked team and take gold.
At last year’s world championships in Slovenia, Great Britain won gold, ahead of Canada by nearly five seconds in a time of three minutes, 27.1 seconds. Blair wouldn’t feel too bad about ruining the host nation’s moment of glory – after all, he’s again drawing inspiration from his Canadian Olympic teammates.
“The men’s eight beat Great Britain out of second place,” Blair notes. “So the pattern’s been set really. We’re just following in our team’s footsteps.”
COMPETITION SKED
AUG. 31 – HEATS, 6:30 A.M. ET
SEPT. 2 – FINAL, 6:50 A.M. ET
About legs-trunks-arms coxed four rowing
These athletes have an impairment that affects their ability to row but are able to use their legs, trunk and arms to accelerate the boat. LTA athletes row as a mixed coxed four. No more than two of the mixed coxed four may have a visual impairment and the cox is not required to have an impairment to be eligible.