Krempien wheels into hall of fame

taken from the March 07, 2009 St. Albert Gazette)
By Jeff Hansen
Staff Writer

    

Wheelchair basketball player Jennifer Krempien will be enshrined in the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame May 29.J Krempien

St. Albert's most accomplished female athlete was among 10 people named as this year's inductees into the Red Deer-based hall of fame.

"It's an honour. I never thought I would be in the class of athletes that were inducted. It's pretty cool actually,", Krempien told the Gazette during her Thursday shift as a clinical pediatrics dietitian in B.C. Children's Hospital.

Joining the retired Team Canada hoopster in the hall of fame are athletes Duff Gibson (skeleton) of Calgary, Scotty "Bulldog" Olson (boxing) of Edmonton, Larry Robinson (football) of Calgary and Vic Stasiuk (hockey) of Lethbridge and builders Doug McKenzie and Dave Williams of Edmonton, Willie Littlechild of Wetaskiwin and Jack Daines of Innisfail.

Krempien, 34, almost fell out of her wheelchair when the hall of fame coordinator called her in mid-Febuary with the news.

"I was shocked," said the Paul Kane High School alumna. "I was told to keep it a secret (before Tuesday's official announcement) but that was hard. It was nice news and I wanted to share it so I told my family and a couple of close people around me that I knew could keep it a secret."

The hall of fame is the latest of several accolades bestowed upon the three-time Paralympic Games gold medallist and four-time Gold Cup world champion. Before Christmas the City of St. Albert saluted the 2007/08 Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association (CWBA) female athlete of the year with the key to the city.

"I grew up in St. Albert and it was such a surprise and honour. It definitely holds a special place in my heart." said the resident of Richmond, B.C.

Krempien hopes to see more disabled athletes recognized for their contributions.

"Any time that a Paralympic athlete is honoured or feature or highlighted, it's going to bring awareness to the Paralympic movement and anytime that happens it's a great thing. The Paralympics are so outstanding and more accessible than the Olympic sports," said Krempien, who is paralyzed from the waist down due to a spinal cord injury at the age of five. "The hall of fame is a personal honour, but I do think more people will start to ask what is wheelchair basketball or what is wheelchair athletics and that will only help wheelchair athletes get the attention and recognition they deserve."

Krempien's hall of fame career started at age nine with the Northern Lights junior program. After graduation from Paul Kane, she made the national team's roster at age 17 as Canada went on to win the first of its historic run of three Paralympic gold medals in a row.

In 2007 Krempien was crowned the tournament MVP at the Osaka Cup in Japan and was Canada's flag bearer at the ParaPanAmnerican Games in Rio do Janeiro.

After Canada's fifth-place showing at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing the national team co-captain retired from international competition. Her fifth and final Paralympics marked the first time Canada failed to reach the podium in 19 years after racking up seven gold and two bronze Paralympic and Gold Cup medals since 1990.

During her tenure Canada lost only one international game at the Paralympics or Gold Cups from 1992 leading up to the Beijing games.

"I completely love being a non-athlete right now. It's helped me to put things in perspective a bit and to really start celebrating what we accomplished as a team and really how historical it was," said the all-star guard at the 1998 and 2002 Gold Cups. "It was hard for me to have it all in context when I was playing because we were always striving for something or trying to achieve something. When the game was over and it was like, 'What do we need to do better next time.' Now I'm starting to understand what we really did accomplish and it was quite remarkable."

The club member of the Edmonton Inferno (five-time defending Canadian Wheelchair Basketball League champions) is a bona fide first ballot candidate to make the CWBA hall of fame in the next few years. The Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame is another possibility, but Krempien doesn't consider herself worthy for consideration.

"The class of athletes that are inducted is outstanding and I don't think I would be really deserving of that honour."
jhansen@stalbert.greatwest.ca   
 
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