SA canoeists pursue Olympic medals
7 August 2008
The biggest team of South Africa canoeists to take part in the Olympic Games will begin their campaign in the slalom and sprint events confident of reaching the finals in a number of disciplines, with two genuine chances to win medals.
Flatwater sprinters Shaun Rubenstein and Jen Hodson are both serious medal contenders, and both wrapped up their Olympic preparations at their camp in Szolnok, Hungary, in the best shape of their careers and itching to start their challenge for Olympic glory.
'I believe I am good enough'
"If I can get my peak and all other aspects involved in having a perfect race right, I believe I am good enough to win a medal," said Rubenstein, who has been a regular feature on the A finals for both the 500 metres and 1 000 metres K1 races at the World Cup regattas in the build-up to the Olympic games.
"My training has been going very well. We are starting to do a lot more training on the course to prepare our bodies for the intense racing that is coming up," he said. Rubensteinhas been training with fellow South Africans Ant Stott and Nic Burden, as well as with fellow Olympians Ken Wallace of Australia and Slovenia's Jupancic Regent.
Hodson is also optimistic about a strong challenge for a medal in the A final of the women's 500m K1. "Realistically there are six or seven girls who can all medal on the day, and I include myself as one of these," said the Pietermaritzburg-raised star who relocated to Gauteng to train under national coach nandor Almasi several years ago.
'Starting to feel real'
"After all these months, it's difficult to realise that we are days away from the opening ceremony," said Hodson. "I can definitely feel the big race is coming up, and the enormity of what we are about to experience is starting to feel real."
Hodson will also anchor the high flying women's K4 crew that has rocketed from obscurity to being a genuine force in the tough and competitive world of international K4 racing.
The K4 team of Michèle Eray, Carol Joyce, Nikki Mocke and Hodson has made major strides, and will be looking to start the women's K4 final in a strong position. They are aiming for at least a top six finish.
"There will probably be about a second separating us all, so it is all about getting it right on the day, at the right time!" said Nikki Mocke, the wife of surf ski ace Dawid Mocke.
'Super-fast times'
"Training has been going well, and the K4 is hitting some super-fast times," said Plettenberg Bay-based Eray, who will also partner Tukkies paddler Bridgitte Hartley in the 500 metres K2 races.
The combination was only initiated in June, following the needle tussle between Hartley and Hodson for the right to race the blue ribbon women's 500 metres K1 event, which was only decided at the final trial at the World Cup in Hungary. History was made at the event as the two South African women raced into the top five places in the A final.
"Bridgitte (Hartley) and I have been working hard to become much quicker off the mark," said Eray. "It's paying off and we are feeling a lot faster than before. We still have only paddled together very few times compared to other international pairs, but I am very positive about our combination."
First SA C1 qualifier
Making up the balance of the challenge from Team South Africa in the flatwater sprint events is teenager Calvin Mokoto, who is the first South African paddler to qualify a C1 canoe berth at the Olympic Games.
The enthusiastic Wattville youngster has won plenty of admirers in his first international season after being spotted and nurtured by German champion Andreas Dittmer several years ago.
Three athletes will contest the slalom competition at the challenging new artificial white water course, all of them in canoes. It is the first time that South African paddlers have qualified a place at the Games in canoes, in which the paddlers kneel in the craft and use single-bladed paddles.
C2 combination
Cameron McIntosh, the Bethlehem-based doctor, who for years campaigned to qualify a K1 for the games, will partner Cyprian Ngidi in the C2 competition, while Siboniso "Master" Cele will contest the C1 events.
Cele has improved rapidly since making his international debut five years ago and is aiming to make the cut of the top 12 paddlers to secure a berth in the semi-finals.
McIntosh, who must take much of the credit for doggedly driving the dreams of slalom paddlers and founding the Dihlabeng slalom canoe club outside Bethlehem that is the home of elite slalom paddling in South Africa, started the slalom careers of Cele and Ngidi while they were members of the Lembethe Canoe Club at Nagle Dam, deep in the Valley of a Thousand Hills.
Goal
He is determined to take his C2 partnership with Ngidi to new heights on the tough heavy water of the Shunyi course, and has set a top 10 finish in the heats, which will earn them a place in the semi finals, as their first goal.
The trio has been training on the new course in Beijing, which is arguably the toughest man-made white water course in the world. He said that the intense heat and humidity has made training difficult.
"The Zulu's are getting "kathele" in this heat,” said McIntosh. "I'm dosing them up on vitamins and liquids to combat the heat."
The slalom and flatwater events will be held at the new purpose-built facility nestled in the forest park region of Shunyi, 40 kilometres to the north of the centre of Beijing.
The slalom competition starts on Monday, 11 August and ends on 14 August, while the flatwater racing gets under way on Monday, 18 August and concludes on Saturday 23 August.
Source: Canoeing South Africa
