Bentley’s students recently learned a valuable lesson from Paralympic gold medal sprinter Earle Connor — courage and determination are the key ingredients to reaching any goal and achieving your dreams.
At the age of three months Connor’s left leg was amputated above the knee because of a birth defect. He now uses his story of determination and overcoming adversity to travel to different schools, with the Youth Education Through Sports program, to inspire youths to have the courage to reach their goals.
On Feb. 15 Connor visited Bentley Elementary School to give his presentation to both elementary and high school students.
“The goal is to share my experiences that I’ve learned through sports. I like to use my story of determination and try to make it relevant for the kids.”
The message Connor tries to instill in the students is to show courage and initiative. “To me that’s the most important thing.”
“When I was born something was a little bit wrong, a little bit off, a little bit different,” Connor told the students. He was born missing the fibula in this left leg.
His parents’ first option has to have a steel rod placed in his leg, every time he grew an inch the steel rod would have to be replaced, meaning countless surgeries and good chance for infection. There was a possibility that with the rod Connor’s leg would have to be amputated anyway.
His parents chose outright amputation to avoid the medical challenges that would accompany the rod.
Growing up Connor was active in several sports but hockey was his passion, he wanted to be a goalie in the Western Hockey League. “I loved the idea of being the last line of defense. To me that was the ultimate position to play.”
While Connor wasn’t the best skater on his team, he was never the worst. At 15 years old he received a phone call from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He was invited to attend their skating camp, and if his bantam and midget years went well he would be drafted.
Connor told the Bentley students he performed so horribly on the ice at the camp a beach ball would have gotten past him. Within a half hour he was pulled from the ice and was the only cut the first day. “The local Lethbridge paper called me a mistake, a waste of a pick.”
Rather than go through life with a chip on his shoulder, Connor decided to find a new dream—he graduated school and decided to become a teacher. “The key is to keep pushing through every struggle we go through.”
It was then when he discovered the 1996 Summer Paralympics. “I stumbled on the amputee 100-metre dash final, that grabbed me right away. It just grabbed me and pulled me into the television set.”
However, Connor wasn’t watching the winner, he was watching the runner who came in last with a time of 16.5 seconds. “I thought I could run 100 metres in 16.5 seconds, it seemed pretty pedestrian.”
Instead of spending the next four years working to- ward a teaching degree Connor resolved to spend those four years to train for the next Summer Games, in Sydney, Australia, and make the Paralympic team.
“I wanted to do my absolute best to be that person that finished in eighth place.” Instead, Connor finished first in Sydney and set a new world record of 12.26 seconds.
In 2003 Connor was told he had the precursors of testicular cancer. After a surgery he won gold in the Beijing Paralympics.
He then decided to retire and moved to the Cochrane area to open his own business, a weight loss centre. “It’s a definite passion. There’s nothing that rewards me as much as helping somebody get healthy.”
However, Connor became restless. “I realized I still had some more to give.”
He came out of retirement and trained for the 2012 London Summer Games in 45 weeks. “Many, many, many people doubted me. How could I come back? I’d be older, I’d be slower.”
Connor finished fourth. After 17 years of running he lost his first race. “I had mixed emotions about the results but in the end I was pleased with the results with my 36-year-old body.”
Connor focused on both his wins and loses with the students, and how to deal with both.
“I think it’s just about motivation,” said Connor. He knows not every student will be listening to his story, but some will.
“For me, if there’s a few that do it makes the whole trip worth it.”
Connor grew up in rural Saskatchewan, in a town of 1,500, and progressed from what he calls being a normal person. “I grew up in the middle of nowhere, to travel the world. If I can do that what’s stopping somebody in this gym or everybody in this gym from doing the same thing?”