The Airdrie City View has published a lot of stories in the last 20 years, since the paper's very first issue landed on readers' door steps on March 5, 2002.
To help celebrate our 20-year anniversary this week, the Airdrie City View newsroom recently dug through our archives to find the paper's very first issue. We knew the first paper's cover story was about Airdrie luger Eric Pothier, who had placed fifth in the luge competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City just a few weeks prior. At the time, it was the best-ever Olympic placement by a Canadian luger.
Below is a retelling of the paper's page-one story from March 5, 2002 about Pothier's career and accomplishments in the sport of luge, typed out in its entirety. The original story was written by City View reporter Chris Jurewicz.
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The year was 1989. The Calgary Flames were on their way to their first and only Stanley Cup, and Eric Pothier began his Olympic journey.
"My mom made me go to a summer camp, it was a Pizza Hut luge camp," says Pothier, as he grins, showing the kind of enthusiasm and passion every athlete should have for his/her sport.
While most children his age were at the local hockey rink dreaming of Stanley Cup glory, Pothier spent time at Canada Olympic Park, one of the staples of Calgary's 1988 Olympics, still revered as the best ever.
"Luge is definitely a small sport, it's not a high-profile sport," says Pothier. "Not a lot of people know about it."
Pothier had two things going for him. First, he lived in Airdrie, right next door to the only luge track in Canada. And at the age of 10, Pothier knew he had many years to become a success in luge. This past month in Salt Lake City, two medalists in the men's double luge competition were near their forties.
Pothier loved several aspects of the sport early on in his career.
"For me, it was fast and something totally different," he says. "I thought it was fun."
Pothier grew to love the sport and became serious about it immediately following the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
"It was watching the whole competition, there was so much excitement. It (the Olympics) became a major goal."
On the advice of National team coach Paul Hildegartner, a former luger himself from Italy, Pothier met Chris Moffat and the two started sliding together.
"He told us one day, 'You guys should go together' and we did," says Pothier. "It started working from day one. We slid for two weeks and then went to our first junior World Cup and we won."
From then on, Pothier and Moffat wanted to be at centre stage – the goal was Salt Lake.
More than a year before the games were to start, the pair qualified and were ecstatic.
"We were pretty excited but it was more than a year before the games," says Pothier. "As it got closer, we got sick of how excited everybody was. Everybody you meet would ask the same questions."
Don't misunderstand Pothier. He and Moffat were very thankful for everyone's support. But just imagine everyone you know asking the same question every day. It's like reporters in the '80s with Wayne Gretzky. The only question they seemed to ask was 'How does it feel to be the greatest hockey player in the world?'
Pothier and Moffat knew, in order for the duo to place well in Salt Lake, they needed to train hard. And train hard they did.
"This year was really difficult. Twice a day, five days a week, and two or three of those days, we would do three (workouts)."
Luge is a sport that requires strength and speed. Therefore, Pothier was lifting weights and doing cardio workouts.
"It was like I spent all day, every day, at COP and the Oval."
Two weeks ago, Pothier and Moffat stood atop the track in Utah and a few minutes later, they found themselves in fifth spot, the best-ever finish by a Canadian sled in the Olympic luge competition.
"Top five was our goal, it was the bare minimum. Being able to do it in front of so many people was exciting," says Pothier. "There was 16,000 people cheering for you. Every single sled was getting cheered for."
Despite the excellent finish, Pothier feels the Canadians weren't competing on a level playing field.
"It's pretty much all in the technology and how you can bypass the rules. The European way of thinking is that it's not cheating if you don't get caught. It's kinda tough, because you know you can beat these guys. But that's the sport so you deal with it."
Overall, Pothier's Olympic experience could not have been better. Along with meeting Mario Lemieux and attending the men's gold medal hockey game, Pothier was one of 2000 people that saw the Tragically Hip in a private concert. He also feels that, along with Moffat, he has helped the sport of luge in Canada.
"I hope so. We're hoping that our finish helps out the sport and gets people interested."
