Linus Gatzen is ready to take on the competition at OFSAA this week. “I’m competing in shot put, 100-metre sprints and the 800 metre-distance because those are the para events,” said Gatzen, a student at Banting Secondary School. He’s going to the provincial meet in St. Catharines after a strong showing at WOSSAA. “In the 800, I set a record, so I’m the record [holder] now,” added Gatzen. A year ago, Gatzen competed in the ambulatory category, but this season he moved to the visually impaired division. He became a para-athlete after suffering a brain injury as an infant in his homeland of Germany. “When I was like five months old, I was on the couch and I tried to turn, and I fell,” explains Gatzen. “It was only 30cm and we had a carpet, but I had bleeding in the head, and we needed to go to the hospital. They cut like 30 per cent out of my brain.” The injury forced him to relearn how to use the left side of his body, which is still affected by hemiparesis. “It’s not only my body, but also the eyes,” said Gatzen. “Both of my eyes function normally, but they only see the right side. So, I have only 50 per cent vision field.” Banting coach Todd MacKay says adding Linus to his squad was a surprise. “We’ve been very fortunate over the years to have some great para-athletes and Linus came to us last year after his parents moved to Western [University] as professors,” said MacKay. “He joined us here at Banting and he’s now competed with us for two years as well as the swim team. We’re very fortunate to have Linus as he has a great outlook.” That outlook includes just wanting to push himself to his limits. “It’s not about the medals — it’s more about the fun,” said Gatzen. “I like competing and other people never get the chance to compete, so I compete for those people.” Even though he says the medals don’t matter to him, he has a great shot to bring home hardware in the running events, and MacKay considers him an underdog in the shot put. “It’s a little bit more difficult because the visually impaired sometimes are a little bit more physically capable than he is,” said MacKay. “Again, no excuses. He makes it work and he works hard to do the best he can.” Gatzen will compete Friday and Saturday on one of the sport’s biggest stages. Even with large crowds expected, he said nerves will not be a factor. “When there are lots of people and you’re nervous, you just don’t see half of them,” he said with a laugh. “So it doesn’t seem like a big deal.”
