Arnold Boldt races around the track at the Velodrome during Thurday's Individual 1-kilometre time trial.  (photo courtesy of Canadian Paralympic Committee's Facebook page.)

 

Moose Jaw's Arnold Boldt has seen the Paralympic Games change before his eyes.  After 20 years away, he's in London, England this week, competing in his sixth Paralympics as a cyclist.

Boldt won five gold medals from 1976 to 1992 competiting in long jump and high jump at the Paralympics before turning to his family life and rising his children, but his competitive edge wouldn't let him stay away.

"As my boys were growing up, they were involved in sports and they would cross train during the summer by riding mountain bikes and stuff like that and I got involved in riding bike with them," explained Boldt over the phone from London.  "We had the Dusty Moose that use to be run in Wakamow Valley and one race led to another and by 2009, I had inquired about making the National team for paracycling."

The 58-year-old made the team and set his sights on competiting at the 2012 Paralympic Games, "The summer of 2009, I set a goal with my coaches of trying to make the 2012 Paralympic team, and here I am."

Boldt has competed in two events so far at the Games, finishing in 25th place on the opening day in the Men's Individual 1-kilometre time trial and then coming in 12th during the Individual Pursuit on Friday.  He says he's happy with the results so far, after posting personal best times in both events.

"The level of competition is high and quite frankly, we don't have any tracks in Saskatchewan that I can train on, so the Canadian coaching staff had wanted me to do the track, I had done some work on the track in the last year, but certainly not as much as the others that are my competitiors here.

"(Thursday) I was certainly a little disappointed even though it was a personal best, but I'm pretty pumped the time I came in (on Friday) even though the placing might be a little longer than I might hope it to be."

Both events were held at the Olympic venue, the Velodrome.  Boldt says it was just an incredible experience to race in that facility, "What a venue!  It's the most amazing venue to be in as an athlete and getting on the track.  It seats about 6,000 people and is it loud in there.  At the Olympics, it was the loudest venue and here it's the loudest venue.

"The wall of sound that comes on after the gun goes off after the start.  You can hear a pin drop at the start, but then it's just a wall of sound.  I think the people cheering you on take a couple of seconds off of your race, they just push you around with their sound."

Boldt will be back in action on Monday when he takes part in the Men's Individual Road Time Trial and then his final even is on Thursday in the Men's Individual Road Race.

Arnold Boldt joins Marc Smith over the phone from London, England.