Five minutes with Jayna Hefford
The Charlatan (TC): With the Olympics being on home soil, do you feel any additional pressure going in to the tournament?
Jayna Hefford (JH): We’re always expected to win gold. That just goes without saying when you play hockey for Canada. Everybody’s talking about the pressure but to be honest for me, I don’t see it any different as most events we go to, other than the fact that it’s going to be on a bigger stage. We know everybody cares about how we do and how we perform but I feel fully confident the preparation has got us ready.
More with Jade Edwards . . .
The Charlatan (TC): You joined the lawsuit to include women’s ski jumping in the Olympics in March of last year. Why did you feel that was important?
Jade Edwards (JE): Mainly because we needed more Canadians to join. When I was eight, another Canadian ski jumper, Zoya [Lynch], and I went to Salt Lake City and protested, so I was always into that kind of stuff. So when I heard that they needed more Canadians, I thought, ‘heck yes, I’d join.”
Jumping for recognition
Jade Edwards will be at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. But much to her chagrin, she’ll be there as a spectator rather than a participant.
Edwards, 19, said participating in the 2010 Olympics as a ski jumper was a realistic goal for her. But with the recent International Olympics Committee (IOC) ruling that women’s ski jumping will not be included in the Games, Edwards is left wondering what could have been.
One skate ahead of the rest
Despite winning back-to-back Olympic gold medals, Canada’s national women’s hockey team doesn’t get as much publicity as its male counterparts. Still, they might once again represent the nation’s best opportunity at winning a medal at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
And they have a particular colour in mind.
“We’re always expected to win gold,” assistant captain Jayna Hefford said, via phone from Calgary. “That just goes without saying when you play hockey for Canada.”
Inaccurate portrayals living with a disability
Back in December the Charlatan printed a comment in its “Overheard at Carleton” section that read: “I’m sure there are people who have raped the disabled.”
As a disabled young woman, I was heartbroken and outraged to see that type of comment published in my school's paper for 20,000-plus students to see.
I struggle with self-esteem issues that are focused on my disability and I often wonder whether or not it's even possible to meet someone who'll see past it and fall in love with me.
