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< July August 2004
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Guide to the Games Paddlers to watch at the Athens Olympiad Jeff Moag

Guide to the Games

Paddlers to watch at the Athens Olympiad

by Jeff Moag

Don’t believe everything you hear about the state of Olympic preparations in Athens. The canoe/kayak venues are up and running, ready for four days of whitewater slalom competition Aug. 17-20, and six days of flatwater racing Aug. 23-28. With strict new quotas on the number of athletes allowed to compete in the Olympics, the United States took Athens qualifying down to the wire. Americans secured only four Olympic berths at last year’s whitewater and flatwater world championships, but strong performances in spring qualifiers boosted that total to 15. Here’s our report on those white-knuckle qualifying races, the monstrous new whitewater course and which athletes to watch when paddling takes its turn on the sporting world’s biggest stage.

Flatwater Sprint

After a tumultuous two weeks of domestic and international qualifying races, the United States quadrupled the size of its Olympic flatwater paddling squad from two to eight, but left behind one of its best medal prospects. Single kayak specialist Ruth Nortje bobbled her start at the U.S. Olympic trials April 15-18 in Oakland, and finished fourth. The upset left the United States with only one realistic contender for an Olympic flatwater medal, men’s 500-meter kayaker Rami Zur.

For the rest of the American squad, the road to Athens led through the Pan American Championships in Curitiba, Brazil, April 29-May 2. Their mission: Finish first or defer their Olympic dreams for four more years. The women’s K-4 combination of Kathy Colin, Carrie Johnson, Lauren Spalding and Marie Mijalis met the challenge with a commanding 4.9-second victory. Zur and Jeff Smoke also won easily in men’s 500-meter K-2, while canoe racers Jordan Malloch and Nate Johnson caught a lucky break. They qualified for Athens despite a second-place finish in the 500-meter C-2 because the winning Canadian duo had sealed their Olympic bid at the world championships.

The star-crossed K-2 tandem of Bartosz Wolski and Angel Perez, considered probable Olympic finalists before the qualifier, finished third in their 500-meter race, less than 0.9 seconds out of first. Curitiba was their second missed chance in eight months: The pair had seemed certain to qualify for Athens after advancing to the finals of the 2003 world championships in September, but an automated starting gate tore a gash in the bow of their carbon-fiber kayak. They finished ninth in the world in a boat that was slowly sinking.

The women’s K-4 victory assures the young athletes a trip to the Olympic show, but the boat is unlikely to loosen the European stranglehold on Olympic women’s paddling. Johnson, who upset Nortje in the K-1 trials, will also race that boat in Athens, while Colin and Spalding will double up in the K-2. A medal of any hue would be a pleasant surprise, but the racing experience will prove invaluable for these athletes who will form the nucleus of the American team in the next quadrennial, says U.S. head coach Jerzy Dziadkowiec.

Rami Zur is not going to Athens for the experience. A dual citizen who competed in the Sydney Olympics for Israel, Zur has marched in the parade, lived in the village and swapped uniforms with athletes from around the world. The only thing left on his Olympic to-do list is a gold medal. If any American can pull it off, Zur can. He’s just finished the hardest winter of training in his life, culminating in a monthlong camp on Australia’s Gold Coast with reigning world kayak champion Nathan Baggaley and half of the world’s 10 best sprint paddlers. They trained three times a day, six days a week. On days off, they traded their boats for boards and hit the surf. Zur, who was fourth in last year’s world championships and has improved his world ranking each year, says he’s never been fitter. "Sometimes you’re a length ahead, and sometimes you’re three behind. It’s not always Nathan in front," he says. With Baggaley and world silver medalist Carlos Perez Rial of Spain in the hunt, Zur remains a gold medal dark horse. But he’s a dark horse to watch.

America’s other potential medalist, Ruth Nortje, will be one of those watching—on television from her home in New Jersey. Her absence will almost certainly cost the U.S. team a spot in the women’s K-1 final and tens of thousands of dollars in performance-based funding from the U.S. Olympic Committee. USA Canoe Kayak Executive Director David Yarborough says America’s medal hopes would be buoyed if Nortje were given the K-1 spot, but that’s not in the cards. "Discretion for coaches and governing bodies has become something of an anachronism in all sports, because of lawyers," he says. Besides, Nortje didn’t make any allies when she refused to join the K-4 when its Olympic qualification was in doubt. Three women from that boat would have to turn down the Olympic K-1 slot before Nortje could be named to the team. "I can tell you because I know them all," Yarborough drawls, "that there’s no way that any of them—much less all of them—would decline to race the singles."

Whitewater Slalom

On the eve of the last-ditch Olympic whitewater qualifier at the Athens World Cup April 22-25, Americans had secured just two Olympic berths, and only 2002 world champion Rebecca Giddens could be sure of a place on the Olympic team. Every other American athlete would have to punch his or her Olympic ticket on the newly completed Athens Olympic whitewater course, a briny behemoth that athletes already are calling the world’s most demanding slalom course.

The U.S. team answered the challenge with its best collective performance in recent memory, finishing the weekend with Olympic berths for six athletes in five boats, and setting the stage for a strong showing at the Olympic whitewater competition. Three U.S. kayakers—Giddens, Scott Parsons and Brett Heyl—finished eighth or better in a competition that, due to the high stakes and unrestricted number of entries, is arguably more competitive than the Olympics themselves.

Giddens won her opening heat, showcasing the raw speed that makes her America’s best hope for slalom gold. That speed helped her survive a disastrous semifinal run the next day. "I had 10 seconds of penalties, which on many courses means goodbye to the finals," Giddens says. "But out there on the Olympic course, anything can happen." She lit up the afterburners to claim the last spot in the finals, then produced a solid race to climb from 10th to sixth—a sub-par result for Giddens, but done in a manner that demonstrates gold-medal potential. To claim the gold, Giddens will have to beat Slovakian Elena Kaliska, who won the Athens qualifier with a staggering eight seconds to spare, as well as two-time Olympic champion Stepanka Hilgertova of the Czech Republic and a half-dozen others capable of winning if they run clean.

That won’t be easy on the pushy Athens course, an engineering marvel that loops over itself on a massive elevated aqueduct to nestle in a natural amphitheater with room for 7,000 screaming fans. "It’s a really technical course," Giddens says. "I don’t think we race anywhere else in the world with this much drop. The waves, holes and drops just keep coming at you. It’s awesome." The course’s most unusual feature is the salty green water pumped directly from the Mediterranean Sea. The seawater has a peculiar soft feel and challenges athletes’ water-reading skills. Salt spray stings their eyes, while copious white foam throws up a blinding glare and masks subtle waves and currents. But three powerful drops make it all worthwhile for U.S. paddlers schooled on big water. American athletes christened the meaty mid-course drops Great White and Baby White. They call the final plunge Margaritaville, "Because of the lime-green water and salty aftertaste," says C-2 paddler Joe Jacobi.

The most thrilling American performances came in men’s kayak, with Scott Parsons finishing fifth and Brett Heyl in eighth. Both climbed the leader board early, with Heyl in third after the opening heat and Parsons second in the semifinal. "Brett and I showed the world that an American K-1 can medal on this course under pressure," Parsons says.

Backing up Parsons and Heyl was three-time Olympian Scott Shipley, who suspended his semi-retirement for one last shot at the Olympic medal that eluded him during a storied 15-year career. To earn the chance he would have to qualify a second Olympic men’s kayak berth for the United States—and finish far enough ahead of Heyl to claim the right to use it. "This situation was a double broiler," says USACK Slalom Director Brian Parsons. "These athletes were trying to qualify Olympic spots for the United States against the best racers in the world, while at the same time racing their own American teammates to fill those spots." When Shipley failed to advance to the semifinals, Heyl says, "I realized the task was wholly on my shoulders." Under the most intense pressure of his career, Heyl delivered two solid runs to claim his place in the Olympic games.

In Athens he’ll face French phenom Fabien Lefevre, whose slashing style and rock-star persona have transformed the sport of slalom kayaking. If Lefevre runs clean, no one can stop him, but a host of talented and hungry paddlers are poised to pounce on any opening. Among them are French teammate Julien Billaud, Austrian Helmut Oblinge and the two young Americans.

No one performed more brilliantly under pressure than U.S. solo canoeist Chris Ennis. Last year he didn’t make the American "A" team; now he’s going to the Olympics on the strength of his 14th-place finish in the qualifier. Ennis is unlikely to challenge for a medal, but a solid performance will take him to the 10-boat final. That task is a little easier because Olympic quotas will keep some very accomplished athletes out of the games. In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, countries were allowed to enter three boats in every category; since the 2000 Sydney games, they have to earn the right to enter just one. Only a handful of nations—like the United States in men’s kayak—have earned second entries. When paddling powerhouses like France, Germany and the Czech Republic trim their rosters from three competitors per event to just one or two Olympians, they leave potential medalists on the bench. In 2000, the battle for the lone French C-1 spot came down to 1996 Olympic bronze medalist Patrice Estanguet and his brother, Tony. "Patrice lost out, and his brother won the gold medal in Sydney," recalls U.S. C-1 legend Davey Hearn. "That’s tough." Tony Estanguet is again the favorite in Athens. Other medal threats include Michal Martikan of Slovakia and Stefan Pfannmoeller of Germany.

The United States’ C-2 qualification was a story redolent of the teamwork, triumph and sacrifice that define the Olympic experience. The tandem of 1992 Olympic C-2 gold medalist Joe Jacobi and 2000 Olympian Matt Taylor missed a gate in the semifinal, incurring a 50-second penalty and leaving their Olympic dreams in the hands of teammates Frank Babcock and Jeff Larimer. That duo’s 18th-place finish was good enough to earn an Olympic entry for the American team—but not to claim it for themselves. Jacobi and Taylor had amassed more points in the U.S. Olympic selection process, which weighs results from the 2003 world championships, the U.S. Olympic trials and the Athens qualifier. Jacobi and Taylor are not expected to medal in a strong C-2 field headlined by Slovakia’s Hochschorner brothers and stacked with Czech, French and German tandems accustomed to podium finishes. But Jacobi, whose gold medal 12 years ago shocked the paddling world, is eager to try again with Taylor. If they succeed, a part of the victory will belong to Babcock and Larimer.