Maritime para-athlete sets sights on international podium finish

Glace Bay, N.S. native Pam LeJean is full of confidence as she prepares for the Parapan Am Games in August.

Pam LeJean is full of confidence as she prepares for the Parapan Am Games in August.

“It’s in my eye line, you know,” she says. “I can see it. It’s this summer. I have a countdown on my phone.”

The 30-year-old Glace Bay, N.S. native became paralyzed from the chest down after a car accident 13 years ago.

She was an accomplished high school basketball player before her accident and had hoped to make the Canada Paralympic team in wheelchair basketball.

But she may have found her golden ticket in track and field.

“I haven’t won a higher level yet for our national anthem to play, so I’m waiting for that,” she says.

Jeremy Steinbach, LeJean’s strength coach, says he’s seen improvements since she picked up the sport in 2013.

“Pam’s come a long way since we started. At the beginning, she was in here three times a week working very hard.”

LeJean now trains six times a week, with four days committed to improving her strength. Steinbach says heavy lifting and stabilizing exercises prevent muscle weakness, ensuring she is at her best.

“Shot put, discus javelin where strength is a direct correlative of power,” says Steinbach. “The stronger that she can be, the better she can perform on the field.”

LeJean won bronze in her first world championship, and is hoping to duplicate a podium finish at the Parapan Am Games. She says she will then set her sights on making the Canadian team for the Rio Paralympic Games in 2016.

“She is very committed,” says her coach Ueli Albert. “She barely misses any practices and if she does, she’ll make them up later on and she’s very focused. I think that’s one of her strengths.”

For LeJean, she’s staying focused on the end goal.

“I want the gold so bad. I dream about it. I can taste it.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Vince Williams