Olympic cauldron during the Opening Ceremonies on Feb. 12. Lighting the cauldron marks the beginning of the Games.
By Chelsea Grainger, student-reporter
A serious abdominal injury hobbled Calgary Skeleton racer Jeff Pain at the Vancouver Olympic Games and kept him off the podium, but it didn’t prevent him from revelling in the wonder of the Olympic experience. Pain shares some of his Olympic memories with Beacon readers via photos he took in Vancouver.
The Canadian Skeleton team (Mellissa Hollingsworth is missing) prior to opening ceremonies. Jeff Pain, right, in back row. Gold medallist Jon Montgomery is middle of the second row
Pain began racing Skeleton 15 years ago because he wanted so badly to compete in the Olympics. But Skeleton wasn’t his first choice. He tried Bobsled, and wanted to try Luge, but he was too old to start that sport. Then came the idea of Skeleton.
“The Skeleton guys took anybody, and that was me,” says Pain.
Although when Pain started in Skeleton, it was not yet an Olympic sport.
“I was rolling the dice that it would get into the Olympics at some point,” he says.
Finally, his dreams came true. Skeleton was accepted as an Olympic sport and Pain made his first appearance at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. His crowning achievement was a silver medal in the 2006 Olympics held in Turin, Italy.
Sporting his infamous beaver helmet, Jeff Pain begins his run. Injured and frozen from the belly button down, Pain was still able to push his sled.
Although he was already an Olympic veteran, Pain says the Vancouver Olympics differed from the other two he had competed in.
“The energy and excitement and the crowds were absolutely like anything I’ve seen in the previous two,” he says. “It was amazing. Canada did such a good job hosting it and making it a great Olympics.”
Having won a silver medal in the previous Olympics, Pain had high expectations for himself in Vancouver.
“I expected to perform my best and I expected that level of performance to get me a medal,” he says “Ideally the gold but silver or bronze are good too.”
Unfortunately, Pain tore an abdominal muscle in training and was barely able to compete. “The abdominal muscles rule your entire body basically,” says Pain. “Without it you can’t do much. “
Pain was numbed with a local anaesthetic and remained frozen from the top of his thigh to his belly button during all of his runs and training.
“I was frozen to try and manage the pain so I could actually push my sled to start, which I did a little bit, but not as well as I needed to or wanted to,” he says.
Although his injury took a toll on his ability to perform at the level he expected (he finished ninth), Pain is proud to have represented Canada.
“To represent Canada is one of the greatest honours ever,” he says “It’s very proud for me to do that so I hope I’ve done it well.”
Although Pain had been competing in the world cup circuit since 1995 as well as participating in the Olympics, we will not see him speeding down the track in the next Olympic Games; he says he’s finished as an athlete.
“15 years is a long time and the young guys are getting too good, basically,” he says. “They have the passion and the drive and I don’t anymore.”
Jeff Pain and Joannie Rochette, the brave Canadian skater whose mother died just before the Games began, but who won a bronze medal in spite of the adversity. Photo taken at a party held for the Canadian athletes before the Opening Ceremonies.
Although he is finished as an athlete, Pain is looking forward to the rest of the opportunities life has to offer.
“I want to explore other adventures in life,” he says.
Pain and wife Aly, a high performance business coach, have co-authored a book that will be released in March. The Business of Marriage and Medals tells the story of what it takes for an elite Olympic athlete with a young family (the Pains have two children) over an athletic career that spanned three Olympic games.
Trainer taping Pain after he tore an abdominal muscle. He had to be frozen with local anesthetic in order to cope with the pain and continue to compete.
Jeff Pain and Chandra Crawford, Canadian cross country skier. The closing ceremonies were a prime time to capture final memories of the Olympics.
Jeff Pain and Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea. The two met while attending the mens gold medal hockey game on February 28.
A vivid display of Canadian pride hangs over the hockey arena. The Canada Women’s Hockey team won the gold medal match vs. the United States, 2-0 on February 25.
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