Having won two gold medals at the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Turin, the 30-year-old partially-sighted Canadian is now preparing for the men's Olympic 50 kilometres cross-country race which takes place on the final day of the Olympics, on February 28.

He has been training in Sandon, in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where his Japanese grandparents were interned from 1942.

"I've been there many times, it is a special place," he told the Globe and Mail.

"My grandparents emigrated here from Japan and were in Vancouver.

"They had a berry farm there before they were taken to Sandon.

"I guess it was a prison camp because it was a remote valley in the middle of nowhere."

McKeever will compete with his brother Robin acting as a guide at the Paralympics here next month.

But he will be alone in the 50km race in the Olympics despite having only partial vision after losing his sight at the age of 19 to a degenerative disorder known as Stargardt's disease.

The disease leaves a blind spot in the centre of his line of vision, but McKeever qualified for the Olympics last December and the story of his family's struggle in Canada is inspirational.

"We talked [to the boys] when they were ready to ask questions," said his mother Jean McKeever whose parents were interned with almost 1,000 other Japanese-Canadians.

As a Paralympian, McKeever says he is hoping to bridge the gap of perception and prove disabled athletes can compete in the Olympics.

"I hope people realise through my story the gap is not that big [between disabled and able-bodied athletes]," he said.

"We just have to believe in our training schedule and I think we do.

"When you have something that big in front of you, that big carrot, it really does keep you focused."


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