BEIJING - Donovan Tildesley's final Paralympic Games got off to an emotional start.
The blind swimmer from Vancouver looked like someone who had just swallowed a large gulp of water when his name was announced as the Canadian flag-bearer at a pep rally on Thursday.
"When they called my name out, my heart immediately started pumping and my mouth became dry," said Tildesley, 24, a world record holder who has won two silver and two bronze medals during two previous Paralympic Games.
"I'm not a highly emotional guy. I can usually keep my emotions in check. For a moment there I was choking up. I did not expect this to happen and it's a great honour to be in this position."
The Paralympic Games open Saturday at the National Stadium or Bird's Nest. Competition beings Sunday.
Canada is sending a team of 143 athletes plus 120 coaches and mission staff to the Paralympics. The team's goal is to win enough medals to finish among the top five countries.
Besides Tildesley, wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc -- who is competing in her fifth and last Paralympics -- and boccia player Paul Gauthier were also nominated by the Canadian Paralympic Committee to be the flag-bearer.
Although at first speechless, Tildesley soon found his tongue.
"As a swim team we are going to take names and kick ass in the pool this time," he said, bringing a cheer from his teammates.
Lilo Ljubisic, a five-time Canadian Paralympian and six-time medallist, gave a little twist of the knife to the Canadian team who came home from the recent Olympic Games with 18 medals and tied for 14th place overall in the standings.
"The real show is about to begin," Ljubisic said, prompting shouts and clapping from the Paralympic team. "Canada will bring home more medals than our colleagues did a couple of weeks ago and we will do better than 14th place."
Carla Qualtrough, president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee, also got into the banter.
"We're taking names, we're taking numbers," said Qualtrough, a lawyer who is legally blind and has competed at past Paralympics. "We're leaving here with a hell of a lot of hardware."
About 4,000 athletes from 150 countries are expected to participate in 20 sports at the Beijing Paralympic Games, which end Sept. 17. That's an increase from 125 countries at Sydney in 2000 and 136 in Athens four years ago.
Over 4,000 journalists are expected to cover the event.
Tildesley, who has been blind since birth, said he's taking a more relaxed attitude into this Paralympics than four years ago in Athens.
"Leading into those Games, I was maybe not the happiest camper," he said, his father Hugh standing by his side. "I was training hard and doing all the right things. But I wasn't taking all the time to just stop, smell the roses and have fun and enjoy life the way any young person needs to enjoy life.
"Sport is just one aspect of life. Win, lose or draw, nobody can take the experience of going to the Paralympics away from you."
Keeping a balance between performance and enjoyment was a message Tildesley delivered to the team.
"Go for it and do your best but don't get caught up in the high pressure situation of the Games," he said. "Try to enjoy the process more than the outcome.
"If you follow your race plan, follow your training plan, do what you are supposed to do, the outcome will take care of itself."
Having decided this will be his last Paralympics, Tildesley is already making career plans. He is a part owner of a small radio station in Whistler and could get into the insurance business with a family friend.
"I love sport, I'm having a lot of fun," he said. "There is also something called life that has to be taken care of.
"I've got to get into certain other aspects of my life. I've got to start on a career, move out, fall in love. Do all those things that sometimes get left by the wayside when you are an elite athlete."
While the temperatures have been hot in Beijing, the sky has been clear. Most of the government measures used to reduce pollution for the Olympics remain in place for the Paralympics so the air seems fine.
Debbie Low, the Canadian chef de mission, said so far the athletes have been impressed with the living quarters and training facilities available to them.
"There has been good feedback on the quality of the food," said Low. "Accessibility has been great. If it's not, they make changes immediately.
"Training and getting to venues is not a problem."
Sarah Hunter, a wheelchair tennis player from White Rock, B.C. who is competing in her second Paralympics, liked the compact environment of the athletes village.
"It's fantastic," she said. "We don't have to go far to get to the dining hall or communication centre.
"It's a very pleasant environment."
