As many of you will know, we have not qualified a C2 place for the olympics. Just thought id start a topic in which we can offer tim and etienne our comiserations.
On a happier note congratulations to to campbell on winning the gold!!
dan
Olympic C2
Hi Dan. I, and all at VKC (ET's home club), are very saddened about this. I have already messaged Tim and ET directly so will not go over that again. But what I will do is provoke some response here regarding the lack of sense involved where a C2 pair, who are currently in 2nd position in the world championships, do not appear at the Olympic Games in the same year! It is not simply cheating the hardworking and commited crew of the glory but it is also cheating the Olympic spectators of a competition that features the best of the best - and maybe even the rightful Olympic champions too!
Crews like the Skantar bothers do not get to go as despite being a top crew they are unfortunate enough to come from the same country as the Hochschorners and only one crew gets to go per nation. With 3 per nation in each class in world class events, there is immediately a third of the opposition out of the way in the Olympics. This is likely to be happening in all Olympic sports and so maybe the Olympics are not really showcasing the best that are out there in any event?
The other side of the coin is, however, rules are rules and qualification is qualification and everyone knows its one per class per nation. So even if it is considered unfair or unreasonable, it is just the way it is. But GB NOT having a C2 in the Games is like F1 GP not having a Ferarri on the grid. It is just not right.
Dan, you and Nick did a GREAT job making Tim & ET work hard all the way as you guys were always there and scaring them half to death. Beating them at the Euro Champs with less penalties and a faster time says it all. I was sure that if by some freak occurence that they did not qualify a boat, you would! Absolutely gutted! I cannot help but think there is some very good reason why destiny has panned things out this way.
Every Olympic hopeful works 110% to make their dream come true and, this close to the Games, the world has thousands of brilliant athletes who are right where you two brilliant crews are right now - it must be one of the worst places. So close, yet not close enough. I take my hat off to you and all others in K1M, K1W and C1 who worked so very hard, but who just missed out. Congrats of course and great praise to those who made the highest grade. Go Scotland! Just know that Great Britain will be behind you the same 110% that you put in to get there!
Finally, it seems appropriate to include here that VKC welcomed Helen Reeves on Wednesday evening as its BCU performance coach. We all enjoyed her introductory talk and account of her Olympic experience of course but, for me, she missed something on her DVD that I clearly recall her saying when I watched her being interviewed live, immediately after her run. Whilst she waited an agonising eternity to get confirmation if she had a medal or not, she said "I just hope it all turns out good and they get a Bronze. It will be fantastic!". I mention this only to highlight that she said "they", meaning Team GB, not "I". To place Team GB before yourself, particularly in that situation, was nothing short of amazing. There is clearly more to being an Olympian than meets the eye.
If anyone wants me during August this year.....I will be on my sofa in front of the big screen!
Crews like the Skantar bothers do not get to go as despite being a top crew they are unfortunate enough to come from the same country as the Hochschorners and only one crew gets to go per nation. With 3 per nation in each class in world class events, there is immediately a third of the opposition out of the way in the Olympics. This is likely to be happening in all Olympic sports and so maybe the Olympics are not really showcasing the best that are out there in any event?
The other side of the coin is, however, rules are rules and qualification is qualification and everyone knows its one per class per nation. So even if it is considered unfair or unreasonable, it is just the way it is. But GB NOT having a C2 in the Games is like F1 GP not having a Ferarri on the grid. It is just not right.
Dan, you and Nick did a GREAT job making Tim & ET work hard all the way as you guys were always there and scaring them half to death. Beating them at the Euro Champs with less penalties and a faster time says it all. I was sure that if by some freak occurence that they did not qualify a boat, you would! Absolutely gutted! I cannot help but think there is some very good reason why destiny has panned things out this way.
Every Olympic hopeful works 110% to make their dream come true and, this close to the Games, the world has thousands of brilliant athletes who are right where you two brilliant crews are right now - it must be one of the worst places. So close, yet not close enough. I take my hat off to you and all others in K1M, K1W and C1 who worked so very hard, but who just missed out. Congrats of course and great praise to those who made the highest grade. Go Scotland! Just know that Great Britain will be behind you the same 110% that you put in to get there!
Finally, it seems appropriate to include here that VKC welcomed Helen Reeves on Wednesday evening as its BCU performance coach. We all enjoyed her introductory talk and account of her Olympic experience of course but, for me, she missed something on her DVD that I clearly recall her saying when I watched her being interviewed live, immediately after her run. Whilst she waited an agonising eternity to get confirmation if she had a medal or not, she said "I just hope it all turns out good and they get a Bronze. It will be fantastic!". I mention this only to highlight that she said "they", meaning Team GB, not "I". To place Team GB before yourself, particularly in that situation, was nothing short of amazing. There is clearly more to being an Olympian than meets the eye.
If anyone wants me during August this year.....I will be on my sofa in front of the big screen!
Peter Parker - 12 gate courses are plenty long enough!
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Kanu Helmut
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:49 am
But GB NOT having a C2 in the Games is like F1 GP not having a Ferarri on the grid. It is just not right.
I'm not being funny but British C2's have hardly had the same sucesses as ferrari over theyears - no disrespect ment to Dan & Nick & Tim & Etienne. The rest of the world's C2's will hardly be saying 'thank god there's no british c2 on the startline'.
Well frankly you never know what can happen until the day of the race. Just saying 'no disrespect' to the 2 best C2 crews that we have and then slagging them off is a bit out of order. If someone told you the same thing about your performance when it means as much to you as it does to those crews and someone just says to you no offense but you werent really good enough anyway, when they clearly are more than capable of medalling, is not just damaging to the two crews self esteem but also to the name of the sport.
Think before you speak and consider if it is relevant.
It was unlucky that we didn't get the spot but its not going to stop them from performing in the rest of the races this year. Wait until then before you choose to pass judgement.
Matt.
Think before you speak and consider if it is relevant.
It was unlucky that we didn't get the spot but its not going to stop them from performing in the rest of the races this year. Wait until then before you choose to pass judgement.
Matt.
Phatty!
Erm...not forgetting a Silver in the first World Series race in Penrith this year also PaulR
KH - Admittedly there were 2 or 3 nations missing at Penrith but as they are presently 2nd in the World Series I think your comments are unreasonable and rather harsh. Ok, so my Ferarri analogy was maybe not the best given sporting history and you are correct to that extent. But I beg to differ with your view about what the competition will think. I believe they will be very releived indeed not to see a GB crew on the startline! I do not know who you are nor your ability in slalom but I doubt you have trained as hard as both our C2 crews have over the years to get to the standard they have acheived. If you have, I am stunned that would commit such a comment to text. However, you are of course entitled to your opinion but I reckon you are in the wrong place to find many or even any to agree with you here. Lets be reasonable and understanding when speaking of the performance of fellow competitors eh?
KH - Admittedly there were 2 or 3 nations missing at Penrith but as they are presently 2nd in the World Series I think your comments are unreasonable and rather harsh. Ok, so my Ferarri analogy was maybe not the best given sporting history and you are correct to that extent. But I beg to differ with your view about what the competition will think. I believe they will be very releived indeed not to see a GB crew on the startline! I do not know who you are nor your ability in slalom but I doubt you have trained as hard as both our C2 crews have over the years to get to the standard they have acheived. If you have, I am stunned that would commit such a comment to text. However, you are of course entitled to your opinion but I reckon you are in the wrong place to find many or even any to agree with you here. Lets be reasonable and understanding when speaking of the performance of fellow competitors eh?
Peter Parker - 12 gate courses are plenty long enough!
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Kanu Helmut
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:49 am
Hi KH - I already conceded that that historic sporting analogy was not very accurate so no need to mention it again thanks. You made your point.
Do you really have such a low opinion of our top C2 crew? Are a couple of silver medals in the world series really no acheivement at all in your view? I only ask because I am a little puzzled by your views here. I am guessing that you may not be British so possibly that would explain it? C'mon KH, give us some details as we know nothing about you as you are obviously new here One of my fellow club members thinks you may be Austrian...... hmmmm, maybe, maybe not.....I am half Austrian myself Austria turned out one of the real supermen of slalom of course.....I was actually in the start pool with Norbert Sattler at Llangollen once so I dare say I am a bit older than you! I will check the result sheets when I get home because I seem to recall I actually beat him too I also recall he was about 45 years old at the time and had a bad run when I had a good one as a youngster so that explains that result! Dare I use another F1 analogy? Yes, I will.....I am a sort of Jenson Button kinda competitor...I will win when all the other teams crash! (Sorry, hope JB never reads this but its his machine that is the problem and not him of course! - fly the flag!). So c'mon KH give yourself some credibilty here and lets chew the cyber fat!
Do you really have such a low opinion of our top C2 crew? Are a couple of silver medals in the world series really no acheivement at all in your view? I only ask because I am a little puzzled by your views here. I am guessing that you may not be British so possibly that would explain it? C'mon KH, give us some details as we know nothing about you as you are obviously new here
One of my fellow club members thinks you may be Austrian...... hmmmm, maybe, maybe not.....I am half Austrian myself Austria turned out one of the real supermen of slalom of course.....I was actually in the start pool with Norbert Sattler at Llangollen once so I dare say I am a bit older than you! I will check the result sheets when I get home because I seem to recall I actually beat him too I also recall he was about 45 years old at the time and had a bad run when I had a good one as a youngster so that explains that result! Dare I use another F1 analogy? Yes, I will.....I am a sort of Jenson Button kinda competitor...I will win when all the other teams crash! (Sorry, hope JB never reads this but its his machine that is the problem and not him of course! - fly the flag!). So c'mon KH give yourself some credibilty here and lets chew the cyber fat!Peter Parker - 12 gate courses are plenty long enough!
Maybe Helmut is an Oblinger ?! :OSpiderman wrote:I am guessing that you may not be British
Well, I was hinting at thatkatonas wrote:Spiderman wrote:I am guessing that you may not be British
Maybe Helmut is an Oblinger ?! :O
If he is, he should have a better understanding of the work needed to get results in a sport than he has shown so far. If not, that explains it! But whoever he is, IMHO, more respect for peoples hard work and more consideration for the feelings of others should be shown:-)Peter Parker - 12 gate courses are plenty long enough!
so, i think comparing tim and i with ferrari may be a bit of a dead end, but there are a few points worth making here.
first of all, sports show things in a harsh light. they are often black and white, win/lose etc. at the europeans, me and tim did not perform well and that is hard to dispute. we weren't up to that job on that day. that's a fact, a hard one to take, but true.
but i think c2 in britain isn't all that shabby. tim and i are pretty handy, we've had some pretty good results. fair doos, the hochschorners wouldn't worry if we weren't at the olympics (they aren't the worrying sort), but at the very least we would have added a quality boat to the race in beijing. and nick and dan are very swift too, considering they are a very young crew (for example jiras/mader from czech are starting their 18th or 19th season together). there are some junior c2s who are growing nicely and i'm sure they will be successful given a few more years 'in the oven'. i think canoe slalom is a bit of an art and it can take a while to get good, let alone consistently good. there are a lot of people out there, in all classes, who are dedicated to the idea of succeeding at it. it's hard and it's certainly hard to get 2 people to do it at the same time!
the olympics is a very tough race to get to do, but the field is reduced to the point of sparsity. but you have to be truly excellent to win a medal and no mistake. getting more competitors at the olympics is a very complex issue, going to the heart of halting the olympics' middle age spread. it would have been nice to have one more space for us, but would we have been better for it? hard to tell. suffice to say the olympics is the pinnacle of our sport for good reason. if everyone went, it would be called the the 'world championships but only every 4 years race'. it has to be brutal to make it such a compelling, tantalising and inspiring affair.
anyway, i've got to say thanks to all the people who have wished us well, filling our sails with support. and i must say that we are setting about improving our chances of consistently troubling the top flight of world c2 canoeing. hopefully we can be at the vanguard of a revival that will see this country and c2 medals talked about in the same word!
first of all, sports show things in a harsh light. they are often black and white, win/lose etc. at the europeans, me and tim did not perform well and that is hard to dispute. we weren't up to that job on that day. that's a fact, a hard one to take, but true.
but i think c2 in britain isn't all that shabby. tim and i are pretty handy, we've had some pretty good results. fair doos, the hochschorners wouldn't worry if we weren't at the olympics (they aren't the worrying sort), but at the very least we would have added a quality boat to the race in beijing. and nick and dan are very swift too, considering they are a very young crew (for example jiras/mader from czech are starting their 18th or 19th season together). there are some junior c2s who are growing nicely and i'm sure they will be successful given a few more years 'in the oven'. i think canoe slalom is a bit of an art and it can take a while to get good, let alone consistently good. there are a lot of people out there, in all classes, who are dedicated to the idea of succeeding at it. it's hard and it's certainly hard to get 2 people to do it at the same time!
the olympics is a very tough race to get to do, but the field is reduced to the point of sparsity. but you have to be truly excellent to win a medal and no mistake. getting more competitors at the olympics is a very complex issue, going to the heart of halting the olympics' middle age spread. it would have been nice to have one more space for us, but would we have been better for it? hard to tell. suffice to say the olympics is the pinnacle of our sport for good reason. if everyone went, it would be called the the 'world championships but only every 4 years race'. it has to be brutal to make it such a compelling, tantalising and inspiring affair.
anyway, i've got to say thanks to all the people who have wished us well, filling our sails with support. and i must say that we are setting about improving our chances of consistently troubling the top flight of world c2 canoeing. hopefully we can be at the vanguard of a revival that will see this country and c2 medals talked about in the same word!