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Mario Caron, Goalkeeper: Goalball. Nicknamed: The Heat. Why? The Heat - Can hurl a ball at 60 kilometres an hour with complete precision (my friends who play dodgeball, perhaps you should try recruiting him). He's visually impaired but that didn't stop him from participating in adaptive sports. This is his 7th Games. He does 2 gays of goalball, 2 days physical, and 2 days cardio. Plus a little yoga (that's what I like to hear).

You may be wondering what Goalball is and here's an explanation from canadianblindsports.ca:

Goalball is a fast-paced, Paralympic sport played by athletes who have a visual impairment or are blind. Played three-on-three, on a volley-ball size court, players track the ball by sound as they use their bodies to defend blistering shots upwards of 80 kilometers per hour.

Clara Hughes, Cyclist with the thousand watt smiles and definitely one of my personal favourite athletes. This is Clara's sixth Olympic appearance. You may be thinking wait, what? She doesn't look that old. She's not been attending the Olympics since she was a toddler but, she is a dual athlete She competes in the winter as a speed skater. Clara's only the 4th athlete to ever win medals at both summer and winter games and she's the ONLY one to have won multiple medals at both. She, along with Cindy Klassen is the most decorated Olympic athlete this country has to offer. It does my heart proud knowing that our two best athletes are women. Clara's website is: http://clara-hughes.com/ where I grabbed the following from:

"After winning gold in 2006, Clara donated $10,000 of her personal savings to the Right to Play programs. This donation challenged Canadians to support the cause, raising over half a million dollars for the international humanitarian organization that uses sport for development. In 2010, she donated her $10,000 medal bonus to the Vancouver inner city school program, ‘Take a Hike’, which uses adventure based learning to give youth at risk a better direction in life.

She is the National Spokesperson for Bell Canada’s Mental Health initiative and the ‘Let’s Talk’ campaign. By sharing past struggles with depression, Clara has helped break down the stigma associated with mental illness.

She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Member of the Order of Manitoba, holds honorary doctorates from various Canadian Universities and has been awarded the International Olympic Committee’s prestigious ‘Sport and the Community’ award for her commitment to promoting the values of sport and play around the world. Clara also has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.

Clara was given the great honor of being the Canadian Flag Bearer for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, proudly leading the home team to its historic medal winning performance."

She's just an all 'round amazing person, never mind athlete. I have to admit I got a little emotional doing up this post. She's just so gosh darned inspiring!

In other news which ties in nicely to Clara- I cycled to work for the first time ever yesterday. It took just about as long as the bus. I just ended up getting there a heck of a lot sweatier than I would have via other means. It was ok. As we all know cycling is a struggle for me. The weather is not helping and I think at this point that I will barely finish that try tri, if the weather stays like this. I am finding it difficult to train. I think it important to note: I only cycled TO work. I took the bus back up the mountain, where a man asked me where I got my helmet from. My fancy dancey Yakkay helmet. So I told him it was a specialty store in Toronto and told him to google the brand. I shall make it easier for you guys: http://www.yakkay.com/Webshop/23-Paris-Herringbone/. That's the helmet that I have. I will not be wearing it during my race, I may not do the greatest at playing the part but I'm gonna have to at least LOOK it. They've got all kinds of other great, stylish covers if you browse around the site more.