I don’t know where in my words you’d get any idea that I have a desire for a Hollywood ending. No such thing exists. My desire is for the right thing to be done. People seem to come to this on the assumption that he’s blind, ergo can’t be as good as the others. As the post I linked to showed, he’s competitive, and unlike the others, he specializes in the 50k and has been training for this for years. I don’t know why you’d assume a coach was not being discriminatory when coaches normally put the specialists in the races they specialize in, normally take out fatigued racers and put in fresh ones. Neither was done here.

I don’t know where in my words you’d get any idea that I have a desire for a Hollywood ending. No such thing exists. My desire is for the right thing to be done. People seem to come to this on the assumption that he’s blind, ergo can’t be as good as the others. As the post I linked to showed, he’s competitive, and unlike the others, he specializes in the 50k and has been training for this for years. I don’t know why you’d assume a coach was not being discriminatory when coaches normally put the specialists in the races they specialize in, normally take out fatigued racers and put in fresh ones. Neither was done here.

As I read it, the four who raced were all ranked higher than Brian internationally and were all performing particularly well in their immediately previous competitions.

As I read it, the four who raced were all ranked higher than Brian internationally and were all performing particularly well in their immediately previous competitions.

Harvey, though a prodigy, was already showing fatigue in shorter races and lack of tactical experience. It’s not surprising he ended up in the 30s. Two of the racers had been slower in the 50k than McKeever and at least one had little experience in it, hadn’t even raced it in all of 2009. How do you train for a 50k if you never race it in the year before the Olympics? If people who follow cross-country could see some of these poor results happening, why not the coaches? I don’t say McKeever should’ve been in it just for the inspiration but because he was a specialist and had earned the spot.

So yeah, coaches and some Canadians did McKeever a disservice by being discriminatory and treated him differently. He knew it, which you can see if you listen to what he says.

Harvey, though a prodigy, was already showing fatigue in shorter races and lack of tactical experience. It’s not surprising he ended up in the 30s. Two of the racers had been slower in the 50k than McKeever and at least one had little experience in it, hadn’t even raced it in all of 2009. How do you train for a 50k if you never race it in the year before the Olympics? If people who follow cross-country could see some of these poor results happening, why not the coaches? I don’t say McKeever should’ve been in it just for the inspiration but because he was a specialist and had earned the spot.

So yeah, coaches and some Canadians did McKeever a disservice by being discriminatory and treated him differently. He knew it, which you can see if you listen to what he says.

The real essence of being non-discriminatory is to remove barriers and get the heck out of the way; we do Brian and many others a disservice if we treat them differently, outside of accommodations that they request themselves.

Some have suggested that Brian should have been allowed to compete because of the heartwarming nature of the story, but that thinking reduces Brian to a prop in a selfish feel-good play and does nothing at all for him, just for us. He’s a competitor and he’ll keep training, keep working and he’ll kick some ass.

We just need to get out of his way.

The real essence of being non-discriminatory is to remove barriers and get the heck out of the way; we do Brian and many others a disservice if we treat them differently, outside of accommodations that they request themselves.

Some have suggested that Brian should have been allowed to compete because of the heartwarming nature of the story, but that thinking reduces Brian to a prop in a selfish feel-good play and does nothing at all for him, just for us. He’s a competitor and he’ll keep training, keep working and he’ll kick some ass.

We just need to get out of his way.