A True Olympic Hero

Yes, I told you earlier about my apathetic attitude towards the Olympics but here is a story that breaks through that. I first heard about this story from my friend who I devoted a whole Multiply album to. Anyway on to Larry Lemieux . He was unselfish and noble. He sacrificed. He did not medal. For what it's worth Larry, you have captured the heart of this cynic. You may not have that medal but today two or three people that have never heard of your story 20 years ago read about it now.

Ed

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/sports/story.html?id=063e5f99-458f-47c2-b6c2-0e34056bb81f

Lemieux's sportsmanship still recognized

Seba Beach sailor, Heil among Alberta Sports Hall of Fame inductees

Curtis Stock, The Edmonton Journal

Published: Thursday, March 13

EDMONTON - Lawrence Lemieux had a choice. And, at the same time, he had none at all.

Angry waves wrestling with winds that gust to 35 knots, Lemieux looked to his right and saw two sailors in trouble -- one hanging onto their capsized boat, the other being swept further and further away.

"The first rule of sailing is, you see someone in trouble, you help him," said Lemieux, who was born in Edmonton and now lives in Seba Beach.

Lawrence Lemieux, who will be inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Red Deer on May 30, poses for a picture at the Percy Page Centre on Wednesday. Lemieux was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for saving two Singapore sailors who were thrown into the water during a race at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Marc Bence, The Journal

Except that this was different. This wasn't just another sailing trip in rough waters; Lemieux was competing in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, just out of the lead, a medal most likely in sight.

So now what?

Lemieux's reasoning never got that far. He simply did what he had to do. Competing alone in the Finn class, he veered off course, abandoning any thoughts of an Olympic medal, and went to the rescue of the two Singapore sailors, who were competing in a separate two-person race.

"You just do it," said Lemieux, who was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

Spruce Grove freestyle skier Jennifer Heil -- a gold medallist at the 2006 Torino Olympics, eight-time Canadian champion and four-time World Cup overall mogul title holder -- was also among the 12 inductees.

Others included the Alberta Northern Lights wheelchair basketball team -- the first Canadian champions in the 57-year history of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association; rodeo writer Dwayne Erickson; Yoskio Katsuta, the 'Pioneer of Judo;' basketball player Karl Tilleman; and ice and field hockey player Ken Goodwin.

Women's hockey coach Melody Davidson, three-time Olympian Dr. Roger Jackson, synchronized swimmer Leslie Sproule and baseball players and instructors -- especially with children -- Al Herback and Al Price were inducted into the Hall as builders.

Lemieux said he first called out to the sailors asking if they needed help. But the wind and the crashing of the waves off Pusan, 32 kilometres from South Korea's capital, kept bringing his words right back to him.

"My thought process was: do they really need help because a lot of times you are able to save yourself.

"But I couldn't understand if they were saying yes or no. I just had to go. If I went to them and they didn't really need help, c'est la vie. If I didn't go, it would be something you would regret for the rest of your life.

"But I wasn't thinking that at the time. It's only now, in retrospect, you think that way. At the time, you just go."

Lemieux first went to the aid of the sailor, Joseph Chan, who was being carried further away from his boat. But that wasn't easy to do. For one thing, the current was going in the opposite direction of the wind, which was causing the four-meter waves to break. For another thing, Lemieux had to go downwind to go to the man's assistance, which meant his own boat started taking in a lot of water.

Lemieux pulled Chan onto his boat and then went back to where the other man, Shaw Her Siew, was clinging to the boat's centerboard.

"I could have won gold. But, in the same circumstances, I would do what I did again," said Lemieux, who, while never making it back to the Olympics, collected silver medals at the 1990 world championship and Kiel Week, became the first Canadian to win the European championship in the Finn class, and won all seven races in 1991 to win gold at the Pan-American Games.

Had Lemieux not done what he did, Chan probably would have drowned.

"He would have been lost at sea.

Because the waves were so high you couldn't see the big, orange course markers when you were between troughs. So looking for someone's head would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack," said Lemieux, who recently retired from coaching.

At the same Olympics where Ben Johnson was disqualified for using steroids, Lemieux returned a measure of sportsmanship.

Afterwards, International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch awarded Lemieux the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship. "By your sportsmanship, self-sacrifice and courage, you embody all that is right with the Olympic ideal," said Samaranch.

cstock@thejournal.canwest.com

Read my blog at www.edmontonjournal.com