HIGH ACHIEVERS: Todd Nicholson will miss first live Paralympic Winter Games since 1994

By Martin Cleary

PARALYMPIC INSIDER: Todd Nicholson will see the Paralympic Winter Games from a whole new perspective beginning Friday, when the world’s best athletes with disabilities gather in Beijing for the Opening Ceremony and compete for medals through March 13.

For the first time since 1994, Nicholson won’t be attending the Games either as an athlete or have his finger on the pulse of the Paralympics as a team leader or International Paralympic Committee executive member.

Instead, he’ll watch as much of the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Winter Games as he can on TV, the internet or through live streaming. It was a tough, but understandable, pill to swallow for one of the key figures in the Canadian Paralympic movement.

Blame it on the COVID-19 pandemic. While the athletes have followed strict health and safety protocols to get to Beijing and will be living in a bubble-like atmosphere, with either no or limited spectators in attendance, the number of people entering China has been kept to an absolute minimum to present the Games.

“These will be the first Games I will miss since 1994,” noted Nicholson, referring to his first of five consecutive Winter Games as a sledge hockey (now para ice hockey) player for Canada. “I normally would have gone for Beijing, but Beijing is limiting the number of international travellers (who can enter the bubble). I do not need to be there. Unfortunately, I’ll miss the Games.”

After serving as a five-time Paralympian from 1994-2010, winning three medals (gold in 2006, silver in 1998 and bronze in 1994) and being team captain for 15 years, Nicholson, 53, attended the 2014 Games in Sochi as chair of the IPC’s Athletes’ Council and the 2018 Games as Canada’s chef de mission.

If he had experienced his eighth consecutive Games in Beijing, he would have gone as the chair of Own the Podium, which is Canada’s independent sport technical agency, and as a past IPC board member.

“I’d love to go, especially knowing what happened in the closed bubble in Tokyo. The people felt safe,” Nicholson said in a recent phone interview. “At the same time, I totally understand from the organizers’ perspective to limit the number of people at the Games.”

But Nicholson still feels some connection to the Beijing Paralympics. In one sense, he’s a roadie, advising the organizing committee in the months and years before the start of the Winter Games and then helping the Canadian athletes return home, when it’s all finished. For that role, he gives himself the title of “Games’ gypsy.”

When the IOC awarded the Winter Olympic Games to Beijing more than seven years ago, it also included staging the Paralympic Winter Games. The one organizing committee was responsible for both Games and officials often reached out to individuals like Nicholson to tap into their experience.

“I provided guidance to the organizing committee as to the best practices over the previous Games,” said Nicholson, who recently learned he will receive an honourary degree at Algonquin College’s 2022 spring convocation. “What they want to implement and their ideas, we’ll flush out. They’ll say ‘what if we do this?’ and we’ll say ‘they’ve done that before and here are the challenges.’”

As the IPC Athletes’ Council chair, Nicholson also had a seat on the IPC board of directors. That allowed him to be a part of, attend and gain more knowledge from the 2012 London Summer, 2014 Sochi Winter, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer and 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games.

“We’d hear presentations from the organizing committees. They would want the Games to be their own Games, but we would give them guidance and advice. If you want to go this route, then here are the challenges,” Nicholson said.

One of Nicholson’s main concerns is making both the Olympics and Paralympics accessible to people with disabilities and not just for the latter Games. Nicholson, who had about six video calls in advance of the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games, wanted all spectators to be able to move around safely and comfortably at either Games, especially when it came to transportation issues in the mountain regions.

When the Canadian delegation of 167 athletes, coaches and officials returns to Canada after the Paralympics, Nicholson will play a vital role through his full-time job as a program officer with Canada Border Services Agency.

Nicholson has prepared all the necessary information on the returning Canadian team members so it can be accessed by the customs officials.

“We help by facilitating their entry,” he said. “We’re providing the information in advance, but the athletes still have to report to customs. There’s no advantage.”

Nicholson hopes to reconnect with future Paralympic Games in Paris (2024), Milan-Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032). What’s most intriguing for Nicholson is if Vancouver bids for and wins the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, he would love to be part of the organizing committee.

“To be honest, there are all kinds of roles I could play with my experience as an athlete, administrator, with government relations and with my international expertise,” he said.

OTTAWA’S PARALYMPIC INSIDERS:

Aside from the eight local athletes set to compete in the Games, there will be a number of Ottawa faces sprinkled throughout the Canadian Paralympic delegation in various roles.

The most prominent will be Karolina Wisniewska, who lived in Ottawa for a decade before recently moving to Montreal to become the Canadian Olympic Committee’s manager of Game Plan (a program which helps athletes transition to post-athletic careers). The eight-time Paralympic alpine skiing medallist will act as Team Canada’s assistant chef de mission, alongside fellow alpine alum Josh Dueck of Vernon, B.C., the chef.

Also among the Canadian Paralympic team support staff are Sofia Campione Ruben (para alpine skiing physiotherapist), Kate Boyd (para nordic skiing high performance director), Ian Pirie (para snowboard physiotherapist) and Kyle Paquette (wheelchair curling mental performance).

Numerous staff members from the Ottawa-based Canadian Paralympic Committee will of course play a key part in these Games as well.