Meghan Mahon isn't satisfied just being in Paris.
"Obviously, that big goal is winning, singing your national anthem on top of the podium ... We truly believe that we can be on that podium," said the veteran goalball player — who is from Timmins — and suiting up for Canada at her third Paralympic Games.
Goalball is a team sport played by athletes who are blind or visually impaired. It's played on a court roughly the size of the one used for volleyball, and all players wear opaque eyeshades so that no one can see anything. The ball has bells inside that allow players to track it and the lines of the court are marked with string so that athletes can feel where they are.
Canada's six-person team competing in Paris has been together since 2019.
In the last couple of years, they've shown the world what they can do.
At the 2022 IBSA World Championships they placed fourth, and Canada is the reigning Parapan American Games women's goalball champions. That win earned them a berth to the Paris Games.
"We've really shown that we're here to compete. And that's our plan is really just every game to show that we're not going to sit down, we're not going to step aside. We're not satisfied that we're we're here. We're not satisfied until we perform to our best, and hopefully our best puts us on that podium," she said.
It's been 20 years since Canada was on the podium for goalball at the Paralympics.
The women's team won back-to-back golds in 2000 and 2004.
Mahon's first year with the Paralympic team was 2016, when they placed sixth. At the 2020 Tokyo games, which were held in 2021 due to COVID-19, Canada placed ninth.
While the core players competing in France have faced adversity with injuries, Mahon says the team is healthy now.
At Mahon's first Paralympics, she had only been playing the sport for about three years and she didn't know how to prepare for the world stage.
"It was one of those things where, for those games, I really was going in anticipating just being a sponge," she said.
Tokyo presented new challenges. COVID-19 lockdowns impacted training, from the team being able to get together to gym restrictions, and the event itself was postponed a year.
For Mahon, Paris is the culmination of eight years of work.
Physically, she's stronger.
In the past couple of years, she's overcome a knee and back injury. Four weeks out of these games, she sprained an ankle at the end of a training camp and has been rehabbing it.
"I'm back at 100 per cent and probably stronger than what my 100 per cent was before all of these injuries because I realized really what my body's capable of," Mahon said.
Mentally, she's stronger as well.
"It's one of those things where in 2016 I was, for lack of better terms, I was scared shitless to really go into those games, and didn't have any idea what I was going to experience, both on and off the court. And now it's really just mentally, I know how I need to be. I know how excited I need to be, but also how calm I need to be, and confident and just knowing in my abilities."
Let the Games begin
The 2024 Summer Paralympic opening ceremony is on Wednesday, Aug. 28. It starts at 2 p.m. EST.
Mahon and her goalball teammates are not participating in it because they're playing a game the next day. They are planning to get in their opening ceremony gear and have a send-off party for the athletes taking part, then watch the action from the athletes' village.
The goalball team has been in Paris since last week and had a five-day training camp in a suburb of Paris before moving into the village.
As the first wave of people arriving at the village, now that more athletes are moving in, the games are starting to feel real for Mahon.
Her pin-trading game is going strong.
She's made trades with about seven or eight different countries, and she still has about six of her pins to trade.
Always a competitor, she has a game plan for trading — she tries to go for smaller delegations because there are fewer pins, which makes them more rare. So far, her favourite is the Dutch team, which features wooden clogs.
Mahon also confirmed that the chocolate muffins that went viral during the Olympic Games are a 9.7 out of 10.
"They are worth the hype. That being said, I will now not consume one until the night of Sept. 5, after the championship game. They're very rich, but very delicious."
Hometown proud
Mahon lives in Calgary and ensures that her hometown is always listed as Timmins.
"The support that I get from the community as a whole, and just everyone who is able to rally and support. I look back at 2016 and having a banner span ... the overpass, it's one of those things where I couldn't even imagine the work that went into that," she said.
At the grocery store, people still stop her mom to ask where Mahon is competing.
"Home is always home, and I try to get back as much as possible," she said.
When to tune in
Here's when to cheer on Mahon and Team Canada in women's goalball action:
- Thursday, Aug. 29, 8:45 a.m. EST - Canada vs France
- Friday, Aug. 30, 8:45 a.m. EST - Canada vs. Japan
- Sunday, Sept. 1, 4:30 a.m. EST - Canada vs. Republic of Korea
The quarterfinals are on Tuesday, Sept. 3, the semifinals on Wednesday, Sept. 4, and the bronze- and gold-medal games are on Wednesday, Sept. 5.
CBC has TV coverage of the Paralympics, and the goalball games can be streamed online. The CBC streaming schedule can be found here.
