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personality focus tribune december 16 1987e3 i olympic hopeful carries torch by denise mcdonald dec 22 will mark a day not soon forgotten by wheelchair athlete keith brettell in conjunction with celebra tions planned for the 1988 winter olympics in calgary the ballan- trae resident has been chosen to carry the olympic torch on one kilometre of its cross country journey a man named bob wade phoned me all the way from cal gary and said i had won the draw he said it was really im pressive for someone to call me from so far away just to tell me that according to keith disabled athletes were given 40 slots throughout the tour which were later selected in a draw while he originally hoped to participate in the summer games in seoul south korea carrying the torch to the winter games is a welcome consolation i wasnt feeling too confident because my coach said my goal to participate in the 1988 olympics wasnt too realistic and i should plan ahead to 1992 instead he said but i got to thinking and decided if i couldnt participate i still wanted to be involved some how and this way i can savor the moment and have a lasting mem ory to tide me over until 1992 keith who suffers from spina bifida and has used a wheelchair all his life initially became in volved in sports at about age eight i was starting to get kind of pudgy so my phys ed teacher be gan spending a lot more time with me he said then he referred me to another teacher who hap pened to work at a fitness centre and he worked with me in my basement for two years he also said that while at sum mer camp that same year other children began asking him why he wasnt involved in sports upon returning keith said he im mediately approached his mother and told her do you realize how many things there are out there i can be doing after obtaining more informa tion from the spina bifida asso ciation keith joined the york county bowman club and took up archery at the age of eight i borrowed a bow from an archer there and he taught me the basics of how to use it he said then i went on to teach myself everything else i needed to know and later entered regional com petition at the same time keith was mastering techniques needed to use the bow and arrow he was still training in weight lifting and at age 10 began entering competi tion i was very light for my age im 16 now and only weigh 117 pounds he said so what hap pened was i was being entered in very light categories but was lift ing anywhere from 125 to 130 pounds keith later developed more varied athletic interests adding road racing basketball and his present olympic discipline swimming to his list of talents having won more medals and ribbons than can possibly be counted keith was recently awarded an additional five golds at provincial competition this year as well as three golds and two silvers in competition in wilmington delaware one endeavor keith is particu larly proud of is the part he played in organizing a wheels across ontario marathon for his satur day morning group at variety vil lage were doing an accumulative amount of laps equal to the dis tance across ontario said keith adding the idea was prompted by wheelchair athlete rick hansens trek across cana da we worked it out to be 2200 men in motion ballantraes keith brettell wheels alongside rick hansen during the man in motion tour last summer the local resident is now preparing to carry the olympic torch for one kilometre of its run across canada toward the calgary winter games keith has been in a wheelchair all his life but became involved in sports at the age of eight hell carry the torch through aurora kilometres or 11000 laps around the track while keith said the group in volved initally started at 30 mem ber he said that total has now risen to 40 or 50 with each athlete able to average approximiately 50 laps per 40 minute session i thought since im going to be using their new pool i should at least help them raise some funds to help support it he said at present keith is listed on the b squad for the canadian swim ming team hoping to make it to the 1988 olympics the only difference between the a and b squads is they hold world records he explained to make it to the olympics each member has to make 85 per cent of the world record so what the b team means is you have the potential but you just have to work a little harder to reach that goal everybody says im not doing too badly he continued but time will tell and i guess ill just have to wait until october to find out however that time shouldnt seem far away when keith proud ly carries the olympic torch along his onekilometre leg of the tour ill be leaving from the aurora community centre at 6 pm and will travel south on yonge street he said it will definitely be a moment i will savor for a long time i h have your say should stouffvil- le stores be allowed to open on sundays si r if- 5 ernest beaven no because it is a day put aside for reasons say reli- gious reasons if you want to call it that scott brushett ii thinkthey should be open from 2 to 5 pm be cause it gives people who want to shop some time in the afternoon and allows them to stay home with their families in the morn ings chris hisey no because im a christ ian and i dont think sunday is a day for shopping its the lords day and a time for rest audrey clarke rnof really for the sake of clerks and their families i think everyone has enough rtime to shop through five days of the week 5v 1