Brian McKeever

McKeever started skiing aged three and entered his first competition aged 12. At 19 he began losing his vision due to Stargardt's disease and has now lost 90% of his vision.

At his first Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, he won two cross country gold medals in the 5km Classic and 10km Freestyle. He also picked up a silver in the 20km Freestyle. His achievements saw his teammates elect him to be flag bearer at the Closing Ceremony.

Four years later in Torino, McKeever won the same three medals he had done in 2002 and also added a bronze in the 7.5km Biathlon. His success at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games saw him a year later named Best Male Athlete at the 2007 IPC Paralympic Sports Awards.

At his home Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010, he was unbeatable in Cross Country Skiing events taking gold in the 1km sprint as well as the 10km and 20km events. Despite taking part in two Biathlon events he failed to medal.

The following year McKeever won world titles in the three Cross Country events he had won gold in at the Vancouver Games and also took silver in the 12.5km Biathlon.

Prior to the Vancouver Paralympics, McKeever was also selected in Candada's Olympic squad, the first athlete ever to be named in both teams. He did not compete however and his ambition now is to become the first winter sports athlete to compete at both the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014.

Close rival Nikolay Poluhkhin of Russia will be determined however to end McKeever's winning streak in Sochi.