McIvor turns essay into skicross gold

Ashleigh McIvor never had childhood visions of being an Olympic gold medallist in skicross.

It wasn't even part of the Games when she entered the sport, as an 18-year-old in 2002 — at that time, her dream was to qualify for the Winter X-Games.

But amid rumours that the International Olympic Committee was considering the inclusion of skicross for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, McIvor wrote an essay for her University of British Columbia English class, arguing that the sport should be added.

In her paper, McIvor compared skicross to BMX Racing, which was about to make its debut at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

The IOC made it official in November 2006, granting skicross entry to the Vancouver Games. The success and popularity of snowboard cross, which debuted at the 2006 Torino Olympics, was a major factor in the decision.

After three seasons on the X-Games circuit, McIvor turned her attention to the Olympics, as soon as she learned that stepping on the podium was a possibility.

She immediately set her sights on winning gold — and put it in writing, said her coach, Eric Archer.

For a sport that is often compared to motocross on snow, McIvor's relaxed attitude towards the dangers of the event may come as a surprise, especially since a broken leg ended her alpine ski career at age 16.

Young daredevil

But anybody who knows her would tell you that McIvor has always been a natural daredevil, since she was a toddler growing up in Whistler, B.C.

She used to ski down her parents' carpeted steps when she was just two years old. Then, she took a liking to mountain biking on rugged trails, getting so good that she used to race — and beat — boys at the Whistler Mountain Ski Club.

When she first saw skicross on a video, McIvor knew she had to try the sport. Within months, she had convinced her mother to drive her down to an X-Games qualifier in Lake Tahoe, Nev., in January 2003.

'I'm different than most people. I don't like to be uber-focused.' —Ashleigh McIvor

She qualified easily for the final. It was the start of her professional racing career — and the beginning of a string of endorsements.

The enthusiastic, attractive athlete was an instant dream for marketers trying to sell the sport.

Now, the 26-year-old McIvor's face is plastered on Olympic promotional billboards in various Canadian cities. She's front and centre, along with other featured athletes like Charles Hamelin, Patrick Chan, Melissa Hollingsworth and Manny Osbourne-Paradis.

But McIvor has managed to deliver on those expectations, making it to the podium in Vancouver.

Expectations didn't bother her

The reigning world champion was ranked second heading into the Games, and was one of three Canadians ranked in the top 5 in skicross. The others, 20-year-old Kelsey Serwa and 21-year-old Julia Murray, failed to make the big final.

McIvor's gold comes at a time when Canadians have been growing more cynical about the performances of our medal favourites.

There has been a highly publicized plan to have Canada's top athletes — those ranked in the top 5 in the world — convert their pre-Games ranking into an Olympic medal. But for the most part, the favoured Canadian athletes haven't performed up to the standard.

McIvor, just like the figure-skating duo of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir a day earlier, didn't let the pressure of being a gold-medal favourite get to her.

"I'm different than most people," she told CBCSports.ca before the Games. "I don't like to be uber-focused. I like to just have fun with it and try to convince myself that it's just another race with a bunch of friends."

In addition to being a role model for young skicross athletes in Canada, McIvor might also be an example that sport psychologists use when talking about how to handle the pressure of high expectations at the Olympics.

"I just felt really comfortable, and at home, obviously, and it's a good atmosphere for me," she said.

"I spent way too much time bracing for the nerves that I thought were going to hit in the last few years, and it never really did. I was pretty calm the whole way through, and just looking forward to each run."