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(Posted
9:30 p.m., Feb. 13)
East
end athletes ready to shine in Olympic spotlight
By
Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online They
have taken vastly different routes to get to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver,
but alpine skier Patrick Biggs, speedskater Nicolas Bean and curler John Morris
all have one thing in common -- the opportunity to shine in the biggest winter
sporting event in the world.  They
have taken vastly different routes to get to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver,
but alpine skier Patrick Biggs, speedskater Nicolas Bean and curler John Morris
all have one thing in common – the opportunity to shine in the biggest winter
sporting event in the world.
Biggs
and Morris will be competing for their native Canada, while Bean will be representing
Italy, the bith place of his paternal grandfather. Of the three, Morris has a
legitimate shot at winning a gold medal as a member of the Kevin Martin rink who
are the co-favourites heading into the Olympics along with the David Murdock foursome
from Scotland. Although
Morris currently resides in Calgary, he grew up in Beacon Hill wherehe attended
Gloucester High School. The
two time Canadian and World Junior Champion (1998 and 1999) teamed up with Kevin
Martin in 2006 with the goal of qualifying for the Olympics. After
placing fourth in the 2007 Tim Horton’s Brier, Team Martin won the event
in 2008 and went on to win the World Championship. They defended their Brier championship
in Calgary last year and placed second at Worlds. In
order to represent Canada in Vancouver, they had to win the Roar of the Rings
Olympic qualifying event in Edmonton in December, which they did by beating Glen
Howard in the final. Morris’
gold medal quest will begin on Feb. 16 when Canada plays Norway in the morning
draw. The gold medal final will be played on Feb. 27. Nicolas
Bean’s Olympic journey began long before he decided to leave the National
development program in 2008 and applied for Italian citizenship.  The
Orléans native took up short track speedskating at a young age and was
a member of the Gloucester Concordes.
He
qualified for the Canadian junior team twice, and won a silver medal as part of
the relay team at the 2006 World Junior Championships. In 2007, he finished eighth
overall at World Juniors and very narrowly missed out on winning the bronze medal
in the 1500. Bean
will be competing in three events in Vancouver, starting with the 1500-metres
on Feb. 13. He’ll also be competing in the 1,000 metres and the 5,000 metre
relay in which Italy is currently ranked 5th in the world. As
late as January 26, Patrick Biggs’ Olympic journey appeared to have reached
a dead end. Canada had originally been awarded 15 quota spots by the international
governing body and Biggs had just missed out on making the basic criteria. His
hopes went up when FIS awarded Canada four additional spots after several countries
returned several unused positions, but when the Canadian Ski Federation filled
them, Biggs name was once again left off the list. When
the Canadian Olympic Committee finally announced the athletes who would be competing
in Vancouver, Biggs’ name was among them after FIS gave Canada four more
spots at the 11th hour. As
an alternate for the slalom event, Biggs will be waiting in the wings in case
a fellow Canadian skier suffers an injury in training and can’t make the
starting gate. He’s
also one of three skiers competing for two of the four spots on the giant slalom
team. Should he make it, his moment in the spotlight will come on Feb. 20, weather
permitting. (This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local
business partners.) Return
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