With a good night’s sleep prior to his first two races and without a crash in his last, Powell River’s Tristen Chernove may well have returned from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games with four gold medals around his neck.
Instead, one gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the second largest sporting event in the world is, by any measure, a remarkable accomplishment for someone who only arrived on the international para-cycling scene this year.
Chernove took up the sport to offset the effects of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a rare hereditary disorder that affects the nervous system and produces symptoms similar to muscular dystrophy. He was diagnosed in 2009.
According to the 41-year-old athlete, due to confusion at the finish of his gold-medal-winning time trial race on Wednesday, September 14, he did not even know he had won.
“I came across the finish line and it was still disorganized,” he said. “There was no clarity on where to go after the finish and no staff around to show me. They had this hotseat where the person in first place sat until someone with a faster time bumped them. By the time I found it, the race had finished.”
Chernove said he did not realize he was the gold medalist until a reporter asked, “So, how does it feel to win?”
His mother, Malerie Meeker, who lives near Lund, was in Rio de Janeiro for her son’s first Paralympics.
“He came over to the fence, we reached through and I was able to squeeze his hand,” said Meeker. “He was laughing when I saw him and saying, ‘I didn’t know. I just found out I won.’”
Chernove said it was very emotional to stand on the podium as a gold medalist with the Canadian flag raised and national anthem playing. However, the medals are all secondary to his family, he said, which is not to say they will be left out on the loot.
“My youngest daughter Morgan, who is six, put in a request for the silver-haired [Rio 2016 Paralympic mascot] Tom and it just so happened that my first medal was silver, so that was for her,” said Chernove. “Bronwyn, who is nine, wasn’t so particular, but bronze is a beautiful colour, and I told Carrie, my wife, that I was going to get gold, and that’s where that one went.”
The family did not travel to Rio because the couple thought the two girls were too young for such a trip, he said.
After more than a month away, almost too long according to the triple medalist, Chernove returned to Cranbrook, BC, where he resides with his family and runs his own airport-management company.
“The tricky thing is that Tristen is just too fast; his family, friends and colleagues are often left wishing he was around more,” said his sister Willow Dunlop, who teaches at Brooks Secondary School. “Though we’re all thrilled for him, I know at one point he struggled in justifying the sacrifices he has made in getting to a podium finish.”
Rio did not begin or end the way he had envisioned, said Chernove. He entered the games as reigning world champion in the 3,000-metre pursuit and 1,000-metre time trial (kilo), his first two events, both of which took place on the indoor velodrome track.
“I didn’t adapt well to the time changes and was in a cycle of not sleeping,” he said. “I didn’t sleep a wink for five days and went into the track events already totally shattered and questioning my brain’s ability to even balance on the bike.”
Despite the lack of sleep, Chernove reached the podium in both events, earning silver in the pursuit and bronze in the kilo.
“I’m delighted with the results because you can’t ever be disappointed with being on the podium,” he said. “I am certainly left with the feeling that I wasn’t able to execute my own best performances.”
Chernove’s personal coach Guillaume Plourde said the athlete has a bright future ahead of him in the racing world and has proven himself over the past 10 months.
“He’s going to keep going, for sure,” said Plourde. “He’s going to leave a permanent mark on the sport and his competitors will have no choice but to step up their game. He is just going to push the boundaries of the sport.”
According to Meeker, Chernove’s final race in Rio, the 71-kilometre road race, was an entirely different experience than the other three because of a crash.
“Tristen went down within about 100 metres from where I was standing,” said Meeker. “I saw him wobble and recover and then he was just suddenly down. I didn’t even have time to worry about him because he was up so fast; I knew he was okay.”
A technician ran over to help Chernove with the bike, but seconds and then minutes ticked by while other riders continued. By the time Chernove mounted the bike again, before repairs were completed, he was about two and a half minutes behind.
“I didn’t see the extent of his bruises and abrasions,” said Meeker. “His uniform was all shredded on one side.”
After the crash, Chernove could not use his front derailleur and, as a result, was stuck on the small chain link.
“To beat his way back to 15th was extraordinary, there’s no other word to describe it; I was so proud of his determination,” said Meeker. “What he achieved wasn’t a medal, but it embodied the Paralympic spirit and his spirit.”
Meeker found Chernove at the finish area surrounded by doctors tending to cuts and bruises. His arm was in a sling from a slight shoulder separation.
“I managed to get as close as I could,” she said. “I called out and he gave me kind of a rueful smile. One of the doctors looked up and said, ‘Hey, he’s alive.’”
The next day, on the same course, Iran’s Bahman Golbarnezhad died in a crash.
“It’s shocking,” said Meeker, almost in tears. “I know people die in sports and he was doing what he loved; there’s something to hold onto in that. But this comment the doctor made to me, and then the crash on the same course put me into a tailspin. It’s been very difficult for the last 24 hours. It just created such a sadness.”
According to Chernove, as much as he tried to isolate himself in Rio to stay focused, he was aware of the support and social media comments from people in Powell River.
“It really feels wonderful,” he said. “I want to thank everyone for noticing what is going on, for paying attention to the Paralympic movement and for being a fantastic community of people that makes me feel really supported.”
