Ten-time gold medallist McKeever named Paralympic flag-bearer

CAPTION: Brian McKeever, a visually impaired cross-country skier from Canmore, Alberta, will carry Canada’s flag in the Paralympic opening ceremony on Friday.

McKeever recalls watching the opening of the Calgary Olympics in 1988. (March 8, 2018) 1.

SOUNDBITE: Brian McKeever, cross-country skier PLACELINE: Pyeongchang, South Korea CREDIT: The Canadian Press STORYLINE: Ten-time gold medallist Brian McKeever will carry Canada's flag in Friday's opening ceremonies of the Pyeongchang Paralympics.

The 38-year-old visually impaired skier from Canmore, Alta., has owned the top of the medal podium, going undefeated in Paralympic competition since 2006. ``It's a big honour, it's a big deal,'' McKeever said of being named flag-bearer. ``The timing was good, it's the end of my career, so it's all these things kind of coming together.

So it is pretty exciting to have the opportunity.'' McKeever, who will lead a team of 55 athletes and guides into Pyeongchang Stadium, was poised to make history in 2010 in Vancouver at the world's first athlete to compete in both the winter Olympics and Paralympics in the same year.

But Canada's Olympic cross-country coaches opted to enter four other skiers in the men's 50-kilometre race and not McKeever.

Still, he made history as the first Canadian to be named to both a Paralympic and Olympic team in the same year, and a few weeks after the Olympics, he shrugged off his heartbreak by racing to three Paralympic gold medals.