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David Hearn’s 2000 Olympic JournalCanoe-Kayak Tradition in the Old CountryI saw it just out of the corner of my eye. A t-grip of a canoe paddle, I thought, way up high on a large billboard. I gave another quick glance up at the sign, while I was negotiating the streets of Pilsen leading into Prague for the World Cup race. Sure enough, that's what it was, with Sprint C1 World Champion Martin Doktor holding it. I had never seen a t-grip on a billboard before. We were entering the Czech Republic, a country where Canoe-Kayak is revered as an elite sport. It is home to Olympic medalists with a strong canoeing club full of decades of history supporting paddlers of all ages. Any boater would be envious just walking through their clubhouse full of racing and recreational canoe and kayaks neatly lining the walls: row upon rows of boats standing on end. The club also has bathrooms with showers, a ping-pong table, administration rooms that serve as race headquarters, a weight training and fitness gym. The Polish Olympic Team was staying in the dorm rooms on the floor above. We learned that the one C1 spot up for grabs on the Polish Olympic Team had been determined by coaches' discretion the week before. This is a task I wouldn't choose to undertake given that two athletes, Krzysztof Bieryt and Mariusz Wieczorek have been trading top places back and forth over the past two years. Unfortunately for me, since I paddle on the left, they selected the righty paddler, Bieryt. It's always amazing to watch a whitewater training site turn into a venue. Anybody who didn't make the Czech Olympic Team was busy helping to hang slalom gates, setting up judging stations, building TV platforms, installing racing banners, cutting the weeds, and hanging the 33 participating countries' flags. A giant energy drink inflatable arch announced the entrance to the artificial whitewater slalom course, which is a swift, narrow channel with concrete triangles pushing the currents this way and that with thick bands of old tires chained together to create surging eddies throughout the course. This course in Troja is a gathering place for more than twenty years for kids meeting after school to paddle. Each team had scheduled practice times for an hour each day on the course. Tension was high during some of the practices, as this race would determine the Slovakian Olympic Team. In my class, C1 singles canoe, Slovakia's 1996 Olympic gold medalist Michal Martikan was pre-selected to the Olympic Team leaving one additional spot to fill. Newly crowned Junior World Champion, Alexandar Slafkovsky was going head to head with 23-year-old Juraj Mincik. Mincik, a power to be reckoned with in his own right, who blasted down the course earning a silver medal, thus shutting out the junior's bid. I wasn't as fortunate. I didn't make the final in a way I would describe as slow disease, a condition that is hopefully temporary. Ironically, the Czech Olympic Team is missing their big headliner and two-time Olympic medalist, Lukas Pollert. A 1999 World Cup Team alternate, Tomas Indruch nailed down the top honors on this C1 Olympic Team. I saw and shook the hand of Petr Sodomka before the race in Prague. He is one of the icons of the sport, having won 8 gold medals, 4 silvers and 4 bronzes in the World Championships both in slalom and wildwater. Tomas Indruch is his son. I saw him win the World Championships in 1977 in Spittal, Austria even though he had to put his spray skirt back on mid-way through the race! A third shot at an Olympic medal is probably out of the question for Lukas Pollert, left waiting for boats to be added to the Slalom Olympic program in the 11th hour behind Slovenia's Dejan Stevanovic. Another Czech star missing from the big picture is last year's World Cup overall winner Stanislav Jezek. The whitewater circus packed up and hit the trail to Germany for the World Cup Final. Racing in Augsburg is like a homecoming for me. This is where I won my first World Championships in 1985. Lots of people seem to know me here, perhaps from all of the years since that I have been back to race. One day during our short week of practice, I was paddling back up the course near the end of our time slot when I heard one of the guys who was putting up the race banners along the course say, "I will pull you up David." I extended my t-grip out to him and quick as lightning he pulled me up the drop to run it again. On another of many rainy days, I managed to make it up the course all the way from the new race start to above the Avery Brundage rock at the top of the 1972 Olympic course. This I had never attained before. I was pumped. There is a plaque at the bottom of the course that has the names of all of the 1972 Olympic medallists including my hero Jamie McEwan. Jamie's bronze medal performance on this challenging artificial whitewater course inspired my sister Cathy and I to pursue whitewater racing at a higher level. There are a couple of canoeing clubs here with a strong history and tradition. Entry-level paddlers rub elbows with Olympic and World Champions. The clubs here probably take the world prize for organizing many whitewater events, introducing paddlers of all ages to swift water, and attracting hordes of plastic recreational boaters. Noticeably missing from the World Cup Final was the French Olympic Team who said, "It is not important to us." Reigning World Champion, Emmanuel Brugvin was pre-selected to the Olympic Team last year. This left the one remaining spot open to a battle of brothers, Patrice versus Tony Estanguet. I would have hated to be sitting at that dinner table around those selection races. 1996 Olympic bronze medalist, Patrice Estanguet is going to have to let his big, little brother dazzle them in Sydney. He could too, as he is ranked number one in the world with two golds and one bronze in the six World Cup races this year. So were does this leave me? I made it into the final in 13th place, but hit the last gate on the course. I ended up ranked 9th in the World Cup overall and 9th of the C1s going to the Olympic Games. I am outfitting a faster steed, a new C1 SuperGlide. I am working out every day on the Potomac River to get quicker and peak for the Games. I am stunned to see that of the other 15 C1s in the Olympics I am the only one born before 1970. I am therefore delighted and honored to be paddling fast and clean enough to represent the USA in the 2000 Olympic Games.
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