Olympic hopeful needs to raise a mountain of money

PENTICTON — Matt Margetts can do flips and tricks up in the air, at times, it seemingly defies gravity.

But he can’t get a job.

“Nobody wants to hire me for a week when I am back home for just a couple of days,” explains Margetts.

That’s because he is pursuing his goal of becoming an Olympic half-pipe skier.

He’s currently ranked 2nd in Canada and 11th in the world, but getting to the podium is an expensive path.

He does have the support of The Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, but the group recently reduced funding to athletes.

“All the things that we have access to are amazing,” he says. “It’s just unfortunate that not having the funding to be able to get to these training camps that cost so much money.”

He says these training camps are crucial in helping him stay competitive.

The athlete’s proud father believes the debut of the halfpipe and slopestyle competitions may be the reason behind the restructured funding.

“The funding has to come from somewhere, they’re adding new sports, I think maybe the funding got thinned out a little bit,” says Richard Margetts.

The athlete has turned to a crowd-sourced fundraising website called Pursu.It, relying on strangers for financial backing so he can focus on his dream.

“I want to qualify for the olympics, I want to do the best that I can in Sochi. My ultimate goal is to bring a medal home to Canada.”

He needs $20,000 just to help cover travel and accommodation expenses.

To help the Olympic hopeful, visit his fundraising site.