St. Albert honours Krempien
Wheelchair basketball player awarded key to the city

(taken from the December 27, 2008 St. Albert Gazette)
By Jeff Hansen
Staff Writer

   

The City of St. Albert saluted its most decorated female athlete with its highest honour.J Krempien Key to City

The prestigious key to the city was awarded to wheelchair basketball player Jennifer Krempien by Mayor Nolan Crouse at the start of Monday's council meeting.

"I really wasn't expecting this level of recognition," a surprised Krempien said afterwards. "To get the key to a city is something you hear about in the movies and to actually receive it is quite an honour."

The Paul Kane High School alumna struggled to keep her emotions in check throughout the ceremony.

"I could've cried. I sort of held it back, but it was tough," said the three-time Paralympic Games gold medallist and four-time Gold Cup world champion with the Canadian national team. "Its speaks well of the city; how they have embraced athletes in general and really promoted sport and the accomplishments of their Olympic athletes."

Krempien, 33, almost lost it when her parents and family members were invited by the mayor to come down from the public gallery for a group picture during the presentation in the council chamber.

"They  have been with me every step of the way," said the mainstay of the national team program since her international debut at the 1992 Paralympics for disabled athletes. "I'm glad they did that because my parents have been to all the events but the rest of my family hasn't been a part of my international experiences. It was nice to include them and to recognize them"

Krempien resides in Richmond, B.C. but her heart is still in St. Albert.

"It's my home. This is where I grew up and this is where I became the person that I am today," she said. "Going to school here was a fantastic opportunity to be part of a really great system. It's just such a good community that really supports its people."

Krempien tried to live a normal life in St. Albert despite her disability. A spinal cord injury at the age of five left her paralyzed from the waist down.

"There were certainly challenges and some paths to break along the way but people were always more than willing to figure out what needed to be done and do it."

Her love affair with basketball started at age nine and after graduating from Paul Kane, the product of the Northern Lights junior program cracked the Canadian roster as a 17-year-old. The Beijing games in September marked the filth and last Paralympics for the national team co-captain.

I was really expecting in Beijing that when I took off my number four jersey for the last time I would be very emotional but I wasn't, said the all-star guard at the 1998 and 2002 Gold Cups. "If anything it gave me time to reflect on what I've done in the sport. I'm really proud of my accomplishments but up until now I haven't probably been as proud as I should be because I've always been striving for the next accomplishment."

J Krempien Mayor CrouseThe honour roll is long and distinguished for the 1007/08 Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association (CWBA) female athlete of the year. In 2007 the clinical pediatric dietitian was Canada's flag bearer at the ParaPanAmerican Games in Rio de Janeiro and was the tournament MVP at the Osaka Cup in Japan.

Her top three highlights playing for Canada were:
1. Losing one international game at Paralympics or Gold Cups from 1992 leading up to the Beijing games.
2. The 2000 Paralympic gold medal was Canada's third in a row.
3. The 2006 Gold Cup championship, when Canada rebounded from its 2004 Paralympic bronze medal showing with its fourth world title in a row.

At the national level, Krempien shares the record for the most Canadian Wheelchair Basketball League (CWBL) champions among active female players with Edmonton Inferno teammate, Karla Tritten, at eight: five in a row with Inferno starting 2004 and three with the Aurora Lights in the 1990s. She was also selected to five CWBL all-star teams.

Krempien also played for the BC Breakers who won the 2008 Canadian women's national championship.

Her international career ended with a fifth-place finishing in Beijing. It marked the first time Canada failed to make the Podium in 19 years after a historic run of Paralympic and Gold Cup medals of two bronze and seven gold since 1990.

"I haven't touched a basketball since Beijing. The airline tag from Beijing is still on my basketball chair," said the candidate for the CWBA hall of fame. "I'm so proud of everything that I've accomplished and what our team has accomplished but I'm thrilled to move on to whatever the ext challenge may be.
jhansen@stablert.greatwest.ca
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