Toronto 2015 an "opportunity to educate Canadians" on Para sports says highly decorated swimmer Benoit Huot

Medals? Yep! – Benoit Huot has won a few in the pool.

Capturing 19 over the last four Paralympics has allowed Huot to be described “as one of Canada’s most accomplished Paralympians of all time,” by the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

After topping the podium three times in Sydney 2000, his breakthrough occurred as a 23-year-old at Athens 2004 where he won five individual gold medals.

Now at 31, his mission for the Toronto 2015 Parapan Am Games goes far beyond just wanting to win.

“Obviously I want to do well and have great results in the water, but it’s really to use these games to bring the Para movement to another level,” he said.  “There is not a better way than having a home soil games for increasing awareness and visibility.  This will give us the opportunity to educate Canadians.”

Most sports at the Para level mirror those of the Olympics in which “able-bodied” athletes compete, but there are sports such as Goalball and Boccia which are unique and will be on display at Toronto 2015.

“We won’t catch all Canadians,” he said. “But a lot of people will start to become more aware of what we are and what we do.”

Moreover, in addition to sports that are unique to Para games, there are also varying classes the athletes compete in depending on their particular mental and/or physical disability.

Huot, who was born with a club foot, is excited about an increased spotlight on these intricacies in the Para games.

“I tell (people) I was born with a small disability in my right leg.  It’s a club foot. Swimming works with different classifications for your disability. I compete in this specific one against athletes with a similar disability,” he said. “When we think about Para sport, we often think about someone in a wheelchair, someone with a more severe disability than a club foot – but no, it’s a lot of different aspects.”

Huot’s path to the pool took a few twists and turns before arriving at its final destination and started not with the desire to jump in the water, but rather to skate on ice.

Growing up in the 1980’s in the Montreal suburb of Longueuil, Huot wanted to be a hockey player

“I went to the ice rink and it took me two minutes to realize that my dream of being the next Patrick Roy was only going to be a dream,” he reflected with a smile. “I was five seconds up on the ice and two minutes on my bum.”

Young Huot was not deterred – the next year he would try his hand at his second favourite sport – baseball.

“We had the Expos and I wanted to become the next Gary Carter,” he said. “Same story, I had a hard time running and I was not really that good.”

So at eight years old and still with an itch to compete, the stars aligned for Huot one Sunday morning when he was playing on his balcony and he caught a glimpse of the community newspaper.

“I saw on the cover my best friend Stephane (Deslauriers) with a silver medal around his neck that he won at the Quebec games in swimming.  I knew he was a swimmer but I didn’t know he was that good – so I was inspired by his performance.” he said.  “Two days later, I see Mark Tewksbury winning gold in the 100 metre backstroke in 1992 (Barcelona Olympics).’

Over the course of 48 hours, Huot was transformed – he wanted to be a swimmer.

His ever supportive parents took their young son to the pool so he could give yet another sport a try – this time the results were different.

“Hockey and baseball, they were team sports.  I felt as a kid that I needed to look like the other kids, they were skating like gods, they were running easy, I wasn’t good like that,” he said.  “Going to the pool – yes there were other kids, but I felt like I was free in the water, for the first time I felt I was in the right place. I was so happy that I finally found the sport that was working for me.”

It wasn’t always rosy from that point on.  After fantastic performances in both Sydney and Athens, and three more gold medals at the 2007 Parapan Am games in Rio, Huot was at the top of his game heading into Beijing 2008.  He was poised to become the first ever male Paralympian to win gold in the same event (the 50m Freestyle) in three consecutive games.

“I was the favourite, I was world champion, I was the world record holder,” he said. “I totally screwed it up and it was tough.”

For the first time, in a long time, he did not top the podium, partially due to an illness which caused him to lose several pounds a few weeks before the games began.

Even though he won four bronze medals, Huot admits now that he was burnt out.  Tired and exhausted from the training leading into the Paralympics and with a poor result to show for it, he needed to rediscover his love for the sport.

“I really had to change my philosophy and attitude after Beijing because it really wasn’t working,” he said. “I really came back to the basics of why I started swimming, why I loved it as a little kid.”

He made his decision that over the next four years heading into London 2012 – no matter the outcome, he wanted to have fun again.

“It was the four best years of my career, I showed up on Day 1 and swam my key event – the 200m Individual Medley and I got the privilege to be back on top of the podium,” he said. “Hearing the national anthem, I remembered the last eight years – especially the struggles of Beijing.”

It was his nineteenth podium finish at the Paralympics and the first time he ever cried after winning a medal.

“Today it’s fun to have the medal and the souvenir of that, but what makes me the most proud about that day is the journey between ’08 and 2012.  The way I approached it and I did it – I had fun doing it.”

He also took home a silver in the 400m Freestyle and a bronze in the 100m Backstroke and was named as Canada’s flag bearer for the closing ceremonies.

How would winning a gold medal in front of friends, family and his home country at Toronto 2015 compare?

“That’s a good question, I don’t know if I could top it, maybe I could,” he said.  “I have never had the chance to compete on home soil at such a big event so it’s tough to know exactly what it means.  I think it can happen the same way…It could happen and I will do everything I can to try to make it happen.”

Follow Neil Acharya on Twitter: @Neil_Acharya