By Dan Plouffe
London 2012 Paralympic rower David Blair had plotted a Rio 2016 appearance in triathlon, but was shut out due to an evaluation that determined his visual impairment wasn’t severe enough to meet Paralympic eligibility criteria.
The 20-year-old Ottawa native represented Canada at the 2012 Paralympics in rowing, winning the ‘B’ final to place 7th overall in London. He turned his attention to triathlon and hoped to be on the start line for that sport’s Paralympic debut in 2016, and was making some noise in that quest during the 2014 season.
Blair took part in three World Triathlon Series events to qualify for the 2014 world championships, had been named to the Canadian team for the Edmonton event, and was set to enter the competition ranked 5th in the world. But before the worlds came the first classification testing conducted that year.
“I had been certified for the past four years of racing – in rowing, it’s the exact same test and standard,” explains Blair, who is legally blind but does have some vision. “I went in expecting to be passed, but they ruled I was not eligible.”
The result was baffling for the athlete whose vision hadn’t improved at all over 2012.
“That’s the frustrating thing – albinism is completely stable,” underlines Blair, who was in a similar boat as Amy Burk, an Ottawa goalball player ruled ineligible for the Toronto 2015 Parapan Am Games, but reinstated in time for the Rio Paralympics. “We tried to appeal it, but the whole thing got lost in the bureaucracy.”
In an instant, the high-performance sport pursuit that was such a prominent part of Blair’s lifestyle was gone.
“It was an identity crisis really,” signals the 2010 rowing world champion. “For a lot of people with disabilities, growing up, one of their challenges is find a positive way to integrate their disability into their life and have that self-understanding. It takes a lot of work to be able to get to that point.
“That’s what sport did for me, really. It was great. I was using it and it was letting me do things I never would have been able to do otherwise. This is a good thing for me.
“When an authority comes in and tells you, ‘No, actually, you’re not visually-impaired, you see fine,’ it’s the same as someone coming in and telling you, ‘You are not a man. I know you think you are, and you grew up your whole life thinking you are and it’s part of your identity, but I’m telling you that you are not one.’
“It’s tough to deal with.”
Blair, who took a year off from serious training of any kind, says he had some complaints about the way the testing was done, and eventually went for a second opinion.
“I went and got tested again by someone who I trust and does the job well and he told me, ‘Really, if you’re lucky, you get in. If you’re not lucky, you get out,’” recounts the Merivale High School grad. “When it comes down to the luck of the draw, how you are feeling on the day of the vision test, you can’t train properly if that doubt is always in your mind. You have to give up a lot to compete at that level, and it’s just not worth it if you’re going to show up four days before and they’re going to tell you no.”
Blair would like to see changes made to the Paralympic classification system and evaluation processes.
“Right now, the classification test is done in a well-lit room, inside, with no windows,” he highlights. “It’s an ideal condition for me. I can see my best during the test, but I can’t see on the race course.”
It’s a different story when his heart rate is at 170, he’s moving quickly, there is a mix of bright sunlight and shadows, and undulations and obstacles, adds Blair, who went the wrong way during a summertime 5k running race.
“There was a turn in the course and I didn’t see it. I started running on the 11k course instead of the 5k,” he recalls. “I need a guide to be able to see where I’m going, and the test isn’t demonstrating that right now.”
Blair recently returned to national competition (where he is allowed to compete in the para category) and won his race at the Canadian Triathlon Championships on July 24 at Dow’s Lake.
“Training without a real race goal, as I have for the past two years now – that was my first race since 2014, anything semi-serious – I was doing the best I could training in that situation,” indicates Blair, who reunited with his 2014 guide for the Ottawa race, Quebec City resident Pierre-Yves Gigoux. “But it wasn’t really high-performance sport any more. It becomes more about personal training goals. It’s a different feel.”
The recent Carleton University grad (with a bachelor of humanities, and minor in law) “started exploring other ways to express myself and push” by finishing his studies and getting into painting in recent years, but the lure of sport remains strong, and he would like to return to Paralympic competition in the future.
“It all comes down to how classification goes,” underlines Blair, stating that authorities are looking at the situation as optometrists at best, or bureaucrats at worst, but have not incorporated enough input from athletes with visual impairments. “That’s where most of my efforts are going now – making them understand all the factors that go into it.”