Parents Vancouver-bound to support son

DON SCOTT/The Press

BUBBLING OVER: Olympian Blake Skjellerup's parents, Kristine Sauer and Paul Skjellerup, toast their son.

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The mother of Canterbury's only Winter Olympic Games competitor thinks her nerves will be worse than her son's as she watches him take on the world's best speed skaters in Vancouver.

Blake Skjellerup, 24, is one of 16 New Zealanders who will compete in the Winter Olympics from Saturday. A group of Skjellerup's family and friends, including his mother, Kristine Sauer, will join him at the Games.

Sauer said they were "very, very excited". "For us just to see Blake compete ... it's been his dream and ambition since he was 13," she said. "He's made such huge sacrifices and done a lot of training. He's given up a lot to be there."

His first race will be at 2pm on Sunday (NZ time) in the 1500 metres short-track heats.

"It's pretty tense, but he's confident," Sauer said.

Skjellerup, who first competed for New Zealand when he was 12, is the New Zealand Speed Skater of the Year and the New Zealand Junior Maori Sportsman of the Year.

Skjellerup told his family yesterday that the atmosphere in the Games village was "wonderful". "He's got a smile on his face so wide – he's really happy. He's not too nervous yet."