Years after losing his vision, Oregon man makes history in dragon boat racing

(KATU) — In 2010, Brinton Olsen of Gresham, Oregon, was suffering from alcoholism.

That year, when he decided to quit drinking, a new problem arose.

“I did it cold turkey,” Olsen explained, “which caused me to have a stroke, which took away my vision.”

When one loses their vision, they may lose much more than just their ability to see. For Olsen, that was his sense of community that had previously revolved around his “drinking buddies” and his job, which he had to quit.

But everything changed when Olsen discovered paddling.

In the years since, Olsen has paddled with several dragon boat racing teams, starting with Lethally Blind, a local team made up of other blind and visually impaired paddlers.

On top of helping him stay physically fit, Olsen said that paddling has helped him recover mentally from losing his vision.

“It saved my life in that it gave me a purpose in life,” Olsen said. “It gave me a whole new community of people that accepted me as a blind person.”

Blind athletes are nothing new; whether they are hobbyists or even Olympians, there is a large selection of sports for the visually impaired to choose from.

Stacey Gibbins is the vice president of Programs and Services at the Northwest Association for Blind Athletes, which provides funding to teams like Lethally Blind. She says that people who are blind are capable of much more than people expect.

“I think often people who think of a blind athlete, they think about what they can’t do as opposed to what they can do,” Gibbins said. “So, with our organization, we’re just looking at all the ways in which we can do something.”

Gibbins used the word “life-changing” to describe the effects of these programs. For Olsen, that is exactly what it has been.

Last month, Olsen made his greatest achievement yet. After training for seven months, he tried out for the first-ever Team USA Paradragons, a dragon boat racing team representing the United States that consists of athletes with disabilities.

At first, he wasn’t confident that he was good enough.

“He was iffy,” said Jim Himsvark, Olsen’s coach. “And I said don’t be iffy! Go!”

This encouragement paid off, because last month, Olsen found out that he made the team. In August, Olsen will travel to Thailand to compete at the World Championship Dragon Boat Races.

Olsen said that he has left his old life behind, and he has paddled his way to a new one.

“We couldn’t be more excited to cheer Brinton and his journey,” said Gibbins. “To have just a small piece in that is why we do what we do.”