Golden City’s golden boy

Rossland’s own hometown Olympian George Grey is preparing as best he can for the upcoming Games.

The cross-country skier recovering from an injury, training hard every day and being sure not to hype the event too much in his head.

Grey is recovering from a fracture in his left foot that is thought to be a stress fracture which occurred in the past and has already healed to an extent.

An old fracture is good news for Grey in that his recovery time will be faster and he is expected to be back in full swing in the next week or two.

“The symptoms showed that it must be stress-related. It turned out it was an old fracture in the sesamoid bone and I’m dealing with acute tendonitis now,” said Grey from his current training base in Canmore, Alta.

“I’ve been doing lots of pool running and working on my upper body and core strength, but it’s very good news that I should be at full strength in about 10 days.”

Grey noted his great thanks and admiration for the support he has received from his hometown supporters, most recently after the ‘Evening With George Grey’ fundraiser pulled together approximately $15,000 for the skiing star.

The phenomenal support wouldn’t be possible without a few key players in town pushing ahead for him in many different ways.

Susan Van Asselt and city councillor Kathy Moore were praised by Grey for their time and hard work putting together the fundraiser and creating an Olympic buzz in town.

Canmore is Grey’s training base as of now, but he said the small town doesn’t have the close feel and support that Rossland champions.

“Canmore is a good place, but I don’t get the sense of community like Rossland — who embraces me and what I do,” said Grey.

“This is my training base but Rossland is my home.”

One of Grey’s coaches said the athlete is at the top of his game aside from his injury and is being counted as a top contender for the country at the Games.

“He’s a medium distance guy, not a sprinter or a 50 km racer.

“I think he’ll do really well in the relay, pursuit and 30 km race. We’re really going to be counting on him on our relay team and he’s preparing for that,” said Dave Wood, Canada’s National Ski Team Leader and one of Grey’s coaches.

“We know of the huge support for Grey in Rossland, the community and his local ski club are really behind him. When a community is behind the program, good things will happen.”

Wood notes Rossland’s Black Jack Ski Club as a foremost up-and-coming ski club, growing well and showing talent that is ‘very promising.’

Grey has been on the Canadian National Senior ski team for 10 years, performed on the world cup circuit, skied in the Torino Olympics and is counted on as a ‘leader on the national men’s squad.’

Grey is making sure the upcoming games are treated as just another competition and keeping a cool head.

“I want to go in relaxed, race how I race and not put the competition on a pedestal,” said Grey.

“People ask me if I’m excited and I usually say no, if I’m over-excited that’s not how I race so I’m not getting wound up.”

The Rossland Olympic Challenge has set up an ‘Olympic Store’ in Rossland’s Pro Hardware with all proceeds going to benefit Grey and Kimberly Joines.

In hopes of raising $20 from each local resident to a total of $10,000, the money will go to push forward these athletes to do their best on the world stage.

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