As 2,500 athletes around the world get ready
for the upcoming Winter Olympic Games
in Vancouver, all eyes will be frozen on Canada!

by Lori Sandys Lapierre

Cindy Klassen became a household name after the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, but she has always known what really made her special.

“God has given me this gift to be able to skate and race and He wants 100 percent of me,” the 30-year-old speed-skating star, told MB Herald.

Given a pair of skates and a hockey stick by her dad at two-years-old, she was playing defense for Canada’s National Junior Women’s Hockey Team at 17 — dreaming of the Olympics.

In 1998, she was asked to try out, but didn’t make the team. Although still invited to train, Klassen couldn’t sit on the sidelines. She returned home, where her parents encouraged her to try speed skating.

Not a fan of the outfits or skates, she admits she struggled. “I had a lot of trouble learning the technique. All of my training for 13 years had been geared to hockey,” she shared with Living Light News.

But learn it she did, training twice a day, six days a week.

In 2002, she competed in the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games, taking the bronze in the 3,000 metre, fourth in the 1,500 and 5,000 metres, and 13th in the 1,000 metre races. Her Christian faith kept her grounded. “I’ve won a medal, but that’s nothing compared to the crown I’ll get in Heaven,” Klassen told Living Light News.

“I see a lot of people in sports who think when they reach a certain level they’ve got it made, but really, you can only find happiness in the Lord.” The wins continued until a fall during training caused her to miss the entire 2003-2004 season. Colliding with another skater, Klassen cut 12 tendons in her right arm on his skate.

“I had to sit back in Calgary and watch my teammates race,” she explained to The Province. “It was hard being away from the competition. But it definitely drove me.” It drove her to awe the world in Italy in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games; she became the first Canadian to win five medals at a single Winter Olympics, capturing the gold, two silver, and two bronze.

Klassen had become the most decorated Canadian Olympic athlete in history.

“I’m excited that I won five medals, but I’m really excited with how I raced each race,” Klassen remarked after the games to Canadian Press. “I went out and I wanted to put together the best races possible, and I did that.”
Named “Canada’s Athlete of the Year,” she continued to skate, but took two long breaks from competition after her initial rise to fame.

In 2007, her sister Lisa, then 23-years-old, drove 15 metres off an icy bridge in a car accident. An off-duty firefighter pulled her out of the submerged car and administered CPR until paramedics arrived. With a broken tailbone and vertebra, and no oxygen for over five minutes, doctors considered her survival miraculous.

Klassen cut training to be with her sister, who had to learn to walk again, but otherwise recovered. Then in 2008, chronic pain required tendon and ligament repair and scar tissue removal in Klassen’s knees. Post-surgery rehab included walking and biking before returning to the ice in January 2009.

Now, she’s preparing to represent Canada in Vancouver this February.

“I’m really happy to be back competing against the fastest skaters in the world,” Klassen told MTS Allstream. “My training has been going really well and I’m proving to myself that I’m still on par with the world’s best.” Yet in spite of the perks — a street and recreation centre named after her, and a 25-cent coin coming in January — her relationship with Jesus Christ is her true fire.

“My faith is at the centre of my life,” she told CTV News. “And so, when I go out to the (start) line, I know it’s in God’s hands and that eases my mind.” A descendent of Mennonite immigrants, she grew up in a Mennonite Brethren church and remains involved in ministry despite her busy schedule. She is currently an ambassador for Canada’s Christian Blind Mission International.

“Children with disabilities in the poorest countries of the world face incredible challenges; for many of them it’s a matter of life and death,” Klassen told Web Newswire.

Disability is on her mind now. Although her doctor says the only way to stop her knee pain is to stop skating, that isn’t possible for the athlete who started out with dreams to be an Olympic hockey player. “I feel like the whole process of coming back, I know there have been ups and downs, sometimes my knees are good, sometimes they’re bad, but I can really just put it in God’s hands,” Klassen stated to the Toronto Star. “I know He knows the outcome already. So I don’t have to worry about that.”

by Sarah Chestnutt

Excitement and nervous energy will be radiating from the spectators as they wait in the crisp mountain air.

At the top of the run, however, Lyndon Rush will be confidently preparing to race down ‘his track’ at speeds up to 150 km/h in the front of a bobsleigh.

The 29-year-old bobsleigh pilot will represent Canada to the world at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games this February — his Olympic debut.

“I’m looking forward to racing against the world on what feels like ‘my track’ out in Whistler,” he says. “I feel like it will be a great opportunity for a high result and the fact that it’s the Olympics is pretty cool too.”

Like many of the Canadian Olympians, Rush is happy the Games are taking place on a familiar venue — 1,450 metres of ice and concrete with 16 corners and the highest vertical drop of any track in the world. “I really like the track and have had more runs on that track than anyone else.” The men’s bobsleigh events at the Whistler Sliding Centre begin on Feb. 20 and the competition will be tough. “The Germans, Swiss, and Americans look to be the ones to beat,” says Rush. “And, of course, Pierre Lueders.”

Canadian 19-year-veteran racer Lueders has dominated the sport for years, however, Rush is rising up with his own team to share the track with the legend. With a committed crew of Chris Le Bihan, Dan Humphries, and Lascelles BrowN, and a brand-new sled, they’re making a mark at many competitions. Rush’s successes include a fourth place finish in the two-man race in a World Cup race in February and winning bronze in a World Cup four-man event on Dec. 5.

In his sixth season of bobsleigh, the talented pilot is catching the eye of media and fans alike as they predict who will win. “It seems pretty funny to me, I feel like the same regular guy I’ve always been.” Born in Humboldt, SK, Rush is now a real estate agent in Sylvan Lake, AB. He has two young daughters with his wife of six years, Krysta.
“I cannot say enough about my wife and her unwavering support of my silly bobsleigh adventure, without her support I would have quit years ago,” he says. Having grown up playing sports, it was his football coach from the University of Saskatchewan who recommended the athlete to a bobsleigh recruiter. Rush was finishing university and felt uncertain about what to do next.

“I really have a passion for sport and the phone rang inviting me to try bobsleigh, so I decided to give it a shot. The next thing I knew I was having a blast doing it and I had a knack for it.” He didn’t plan on being a pilot, but an injury at the beginning of his first season meant he couldn’t push. Which worked out well for him — having raced motocross and snowcross in the past, Rush loved being in the driver’s seat. “I really enjoy racing and the never-ending pursuit of the perfect run.”

Many wonder at the bravery of the athletes who chose to shoot down the ice at such breakneck speeds, but Rush has found his source of courage: a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “It’s not terrifying, but can be very nerve-racking. My [Christian] faith is definitely what I lean on in those tough times,” he explains.

Rush’s relationship with Christ has been a part of his life for a long time. “I asked Jesus to come into my heart when I was three-years-old with my father on the third hole of the Greenwater Provincial Park Golf Course,” he explains. “Dad had just finished laying out to me the reality that Jesus died for my sin.” When training doesn’t go well and the race doesn’t turn out the way he wanted, Rush lives with the peace of God. While away from home for World Cup and Championship games, he looks to his Bible for guidance — especially Philippians 4:6-7.

These verses explain, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” In a sport where a crash can be devastating, Rush knows the importance of keeping a cool head and having a team he can trust. Most importantly, having Christ in his life makes the greatest difference.

“It is almost like cheating,” he says. “I really don’t know how people can deal with life on their own.”

photos courtesy Speed Skating Canada, Landmark Sport Group, ©VANOC/COVAN, and Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton