PARIS – Nathan Clement did something he doesn’t usually do, which injected joy into the hurt as the Canadian cyclist crossed the finish line.
The 29-year-old from West Vancouver, B.C., saw he was going to win a silver medal at the Paralympic Games in Wednesday’s time trial in Paris. So Clement smiled through the pain.
“I kind of broke a cardinal rule. I looked up at the screen right before I crossed the finish line,” Clement said. “I had a little bit of jubilation, and then my body shut down completely.”
Clement had a stroke when he was two years old. He lacks mobility on the left side of his body.
Clement represented Canada in swimming at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro before switching to cycling, and claiming a medal in his Paralympic debut.
“It means the world. It’s something I’m still really trying to process right now, to be a Paralympic medallist,” he said. “Along my journey as a stroke survivor at the age of two and a half, my parents were told very early on my chances at a normal life would not be possible.
“Organizations and centres like the B.C. Centre for Ability really gave me at four, five years old, the opportunity to play, have fun. Little did I know I was using my arms, using my legs, but more importantly for my parents, it gave them the hope of possibility.
“From there, it was me trying to get out of my comfort zone. The coaches I had and the supports I had really led me to this point. I had a community fighting for me all the time.”
The Canadian is the reigning world champion in para road cycling’s T1-2 classification, in which athletes ride three-wheeled bikes for stability.
Clement is a T1 athlete. His time was “factored” because he raced against T2 athletes who have more stability and function. Medals are determined after all times have been factored.
The Canadian finished the 14.1-kilometre loop 78 seconds behind Chinese winner Chen Jianxin, who is also a T1 competitor. T2 racer Tim Celen of Belgium took bronze.
“Today was very much a day where it wasn’t pretty, but I got the job done,” Clement said. “With my arm, I experienced a lot of high spasticity. My arm kept trying to come off on the descents and on the climbs and I was struggling to get it back on.
“It was a real struggle, but that’s where medals are earned.”
After retiring from swimming in 2018, Clement went on a six-month backpacking trip through Asia, Australia and Europe.
“Throughout that time, I kept going to all these amazing, beautiful countries with rich histories and just deep cultures and got to meet so many incredible locals. I kept thinking in the back of my head, how cool would this be to see this all by bicycle?” Clement said.
He’d planned to see the world again by bicycle, but the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench into his spokes.
In the summer of 2020, Clement headed with his dad Dave and dog Lulu to Fernie, B.C., where he started an 11-day ride back to Vancouver for a distance of almost 1,000 kilometres.
“For the longest time, I was done with high-performance sport,” he said. “”Little seeds were being planted here and there. It wasn’t until I was actually in the Okanagan going up a giant hill, cars were whipping by and I was exhausted, and as I reached the crest of the hill, a little bit of that fire came back.”
Clement tore a muscle in his right hip in 2021. The strain that put on his left ankle caused it to give out. He had to relearn his walking gait. His finances depleted because of the backpacking and biking trip, Clement also worked as a bartender then.
“I had to go through rigorous therapy and rehab, just to be able to function in sport,” he said. “I was really struggling with the thought of, ‘Can I do this? Can I compete in high-performance professional para sport again?'”
Clement became interested in broadcast journalism watching John Shorthouse and Tom Larscheid call Vancouver Canucks games.
He finished a broadcast program at BCIT in 2021. Clement is a community reporter for Accessible Media’s “Now With Dave Brown” show.
“It’s very special to be able to cover different sports, cover friends, cover this beautiful world that we call para sports,” Clement said.
— With files from Gregory Strong.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2024.
