The Tri-Cities will be well represented when the 2016 Paralympic Games get underway in Brazil this week.
Swimmer Nathan Stein and shooter Doug Blessin, both from Port Coquitlam, will be attending the Rio events along with Coquitlam goalball player Ahmad Zeividavi, three of the 162 athletes that will represent Team Canada.
Stein, 24, is seen as having a good chance at making the podium.
He won three silvers and two bronze medals during last year’s Toronto Parapan Ams and took silver in the 50 m men’s freestyle during the London Paralympics four years ago. He also just missed the podium in the 100 m freestyle, where he took fifth during the 2012 Games.
Stein suffers from a condition called osteochondritis dissecans, a bone deficiency in one knee since he first broke it playing football when he was 11.
Blessin is hoping to improve on his showing at the London Games in 2012 and is expected to compete in the 10 m air rifled standings and air rifle prone events.
The 43-year-old athlete also had a storied wheelchair rugby career, a sport he retired from after becoming busy with his two children, who he coaches in lacrosse.
However, he has returned to sports six years ago when he took up para-shooting and has been competing at notable international events ever since, including the Paralympics in 2012 and the world championships in 2014.
Meanwhile, Zeividavi will be part of Team Canada’s goalball team, a sport for the visually impaired that the 31-year-old has played at the elite level since 2009.
This is Zeividavi’s second Paralympics, after his team finished 10th during the London Games in 2012 and he was part of the national club that took bronze during the 2015 Parapan Ams in Toronto.
More than 4,000 athletes from 160 countries will compete in 526 medal events in 22 different sports during the 2016 Paralympic Games, which run between Sept. 7 and 18. Forty-four athletes are from B.C. and Team Canada took 31 medals (seven gold, 15 silver and nine bronze) during the 2012 Games.
@TriCityNews
