More Images » Andy Clark, Reuters
VANCOUVER – Jean Labonte, the captain of Canada’s sledge hockey team, was named yesterday to Canada’s flag-bearer for the 2010 Paralympic Games.
Labonte, 41, of Gatineau, Que., is a four-time Paralympian and was part of Canada’s gold-medal winning team in Turin in 2006.
The announcement, which surprised even Labonte, was made at Vancouver’s Robson Square with his teammates and Canada’s wheelchair curling team in attendance.
Labonte was overcome and at a bit of a loss for words when he took to the stage to accept the flag.
“It’s a huge honour,” he said. Labonte, a single-leg amputee who lost his leg to cancer in his teens, also won a Paralympic bronze medal in 1994 and a silver in 1998.
Canada’s previous sledge hockey captain Todd Nicholson, who is still a member of the 2010 team, carried the flag into the opening of the Turin Paralympics.
“Jean, like all of our Paralympic athletes, is about to make Canada very proud,” Carla Qualtrough, president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee, said in a statement.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
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