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The only lines that UVic
business grad and Paralympic
athlete Andrea Holmes will
allow to be drawn on her
life are the marks in the sand
measuring her long jump
distances.
Hopefully, those are more
than 4.32 metres, her personal
best, which ranks her
first in Canada and fifth in
the world. Holmes, born
without the lower portion of
her left leg, is aiming higher
and further to attain her
goal of winning a medal for
Canada at the 2008 Beijing
Paralympics.
“I have decided to train
full-time to be medal-ready
for Beijing,” says Holmes,
who lives in Victoria and
trains three to four hours
a day under the guidance
of her coach, Ron Parker. “School or track, I give everything
I have to attain a goal
I’ve set for myself.”
Determination, focus and
desire helped Holmes achieve
high marks in her commerce
degree while training and
competing for the 2004
Athens Paralympics long
jump competition, where she
landed in eighth place.
“I know I have it in me to
win a Paralympic medal,” says
Holmes, who came late into
training for Athens. She’d
never heard of the Paralympics,
in spite of a childhood
filled with sports such as basketball,
track and field, swimming
and snowboarding.
“Everyone has some sort
of weakness they must deal
with in their lives, mine just
happens to be more visible
than others,” says Holmes,
an ambassador and motivational
speaker for lululemon
athletica and the War Amps
of Canada.
Eventually Holmes would
like to do a master’s program
in Hong Kong and dreams of
a career that combines business
with sport.
But first there’s Beijing,
which could be something
of a homecoming. Holmes’s
mother was born in China
and still has family in Canton.
Holmes aims to visit them
after the Paralympics, hopefully
sporting a medal around
her neck.
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