As a potential medalist at the Vancouver Olympics, Zina Kocher fits somewhere into the category of long shot.
But anyone taking a so-called safe bet against Kocher should first be warned that the Red Deer native is a dedicated and determined biathlete who not so long ago lost almost a full season while afflicted with mononucleosis and a back ailment.
“I had to take quite a bit of time off from training with the mono,” said the Canadian Olympian, reflecting back on the 2007-08 season. “That affected my fitness a lot and also my confidence. I also had a disc problem in my lower back. Those are things I had to overcome so that I could continue training. I had to persevere and overcome the challenges.”
Kocher, now in her seventh year as a Canadian senior national team member and international competitor in the sport that encompasses cross-country skiing and shooting, returned for a brief spell late in the ill-fated season.
“But that was more for practice,” she said.
Kocher spent the ’08-09 season attempting to regain her previous form and has gradually climbed back to the level of expertise she displayed while winning a World Cup bronze medal for Canada in November 2006. She placed fourth in a World Cup pursuit competition in Slovenia just before Christmas and in her final World Cup tuneup — in late January in Italy — for the Olympics, she cracked the top-15 with a 14th-place pursuit result.
“This year has provided a lot of confidence for me. I’m really excited going into our final preparations for the Olympics,” she said two weeks prior to the global event. “I definitely have some momentum on my side. The last couple of years have been a little hard, a little difficult, and I’ve had to persevere and continue to focus. The last few months have been very good for me.
“I guess you could say that this has been my best season, although I haven’t had the podium (top-three World Cup finish), which I did a few years ago, so that’s definitely on my list for later this season.”
Kocher, who celebrated her 27th birthday in December, and her Canadian biathlon teammates attended a getaway camp on Feb. 1, a last-minute get-together before the Olympics.
“Basically I’ll try to focus on my shooting and tying up a few things we all need to work on, including building our confidence and doing some intensity work,” she said, before embarking on the brief sojourn.
Kocher’s first involvement with cross-country skiing was as a seven-year-old with the Red Deer Jackrabbit program. Her first serious biathlon competition was the 1998 Alberta Winter Games.
After graduating from Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School in 2000, she moved to Canmore to train with the Rocky Mountain Racers and represented Canada at the world junior biathlon championship in Russia that same year.
She was named Biathlon Canada female athlete of the year in 2001-02, ’03-04 and ’05-06 and was honoured as the Red Deer female athlete of the year in 2009.
The Vancouver Games will be the second Winter Olympics for Kocher, who placed 27th in the individual event and 17th in the relay in 2006 in Turin, Italy.
“I’ve had top-10 (World Cup) results in all four of the events — the sprint, pursuit, individual and mass start — and really, I think the chances I have of doing well would be in any one of them,” she said.
The Vancouver Olympics biathlon competition will be held at Callaghan Valley near Whistler and Kocher will be gunning for a top-15 individual finish.
Competing in front of a mostly home-country audience will be a thrilling experience, she predicted. As far as it being an advantage. . . .
“It’s going to be a lot fun and the fact the Olympics are in Canada . . . you can look at that two different ways,” she said. “You can take it in a very positive way and don’t let that pressure bog you down, or you can be extremely excited to have so many people cheering you on on the sidelines. I feel that having all that support will be an advantage and will be extremely exciting. Regardless, I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Kocher is confident that the Canadian biathlon contingent will turn in a competitive performance.
“We have a strong men’s team right now and our women’s team has also had great preparation,” she said. “We’re a very young team, so we’re a building team. We’ve definitely had some great training together as we all train as a group.”
While she is focused completely on the Vancouver Olympics, Kocher is determined that it won’t be her last Winter Games.
“The next one (2014 Olympics in Russia) is definitely on my hit list,” she said. “I’ll be right at the prime age.”
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com