Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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March 15, 2010

Calhoun competes in Paralympics

Former Grundy resident tackles Alpine slalom

Wire report Bluefield Daily Telegraph

WHISTLER, British Columbia —  Heath Calhoun, formerly of Grundy, Va., competed for the United States in one of the first events of the 2010 Paralympics Games on Sunday.

The Army veteran who lost his legs in Iraq in 2003 took off down a Canadian mountain in an Alpine sit-skiing event.

Calhoun did not finish the slalom race due to a minor miscalculation.

He said, “I just had a little six inches of error, probably even less than six inches error, in judgment and my ski tip rolled over the base of the gate and I was on the wrong side and DQ’d myself.”

“I’m obviously disappointed. I’m happy to be here. I was excited to get to run the race. Although the slalom’s not necessarily my best event, so I’m trying not to take it too hard.”

His next challenge is skiing the Super-G, set to be run on Friday.

“I’m looking forward to the Super-G,” he said. “The Super-G should be fun. I’m excited and looking forward to getting out there and seeing what I have.”

Calhoun is a 1997 graduate of Grundy High School. He joined the Army in 1999. He and his family now live in Clarksville, Tenn.

“Today was a rough day,” Ray Watkins, the head coach for the U.S. team, said. “The course conditions were really variable and it was a rodeo ride the whole way down.

“You have to fight and that’s what our team likes to do and we’re going to come out and fight tomorrow too,” he added.

In Sunday’s slalom-sitting races for women, Stephani Victor of the United States picked up a silver medal.

“Life is good. I can’t complain at all. I would have liked it to have been gold for the U.S., but that’s how it goes,” Victor said after the race.

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