Frank Garner is the General Manager for Canoe ‘09 and Chief Official for Flatwater Canoe/Kayak at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Frank is staying in touch with the Canoe ‘09 team back at home and you can check back for more updates from Frank over the next week!
Don’t forget to cheer on our Canoe/Kayak athletes as they compete this week at the Shunyi Rowing and Canoeing Park in Beijing.
August 21, 2008
Another hot and steamy day yesterday! I met with Scott Logan and Scott Oak of CBC and tried to get them to push Canoe09! Anne Merklinger is running her “tail off” setting up interviews for the athletes, writing stories and generally getting as much play for the athletes as possible. Dr. Don MacKenzie is another behind the scene person who does so much for the team. Not only is he the ICF Medical Officer handling the doping control he is the Canadian Team Doctor looking after our paddlers. He says the team is quite healthy with only minor problems.
Yesterday the team k-4’s went in opposite directions. The Japanese women’s K-4 edged out our girls to receive the last spot in the final. It was four years ago that we edged out the Japanese women to reach the final in Athens. On the other hand our young and relatively inexperienced men’s K-4 had the “race of their lives” and showed a lot of heart and courage to reach their final. It was an inspiring display by them and I saw a lot of happy athletes, coaches, parents and friends.
Tom Hall had a strategically brilliant race in his C-1 1000 semi final. He started off staying in touch with the field and slowly edged up and passed all his competitors to reach the final. Look out for Tom in the final!
Good lessons are learned every day at the Olympics. Today in a semi final for the men’s K-2 the Chinese crew had fallen back into last place and the Belgians thought they where in the third position and “eased off” as they were approaching the finish line but the Chinese crew had caught a nice wash (wave) and edged them out on a photo finish for the last final spot.
Last nite my wife, Paula and I attended a Nike dinner. We met and spoke with Carl Lewis the famous US Sprinter who was very open and gracious. It was quite an honour.
Today is raining and it is projected to rain all day including during the races. As Canadians we love the rain - Go Canada Go.
Cheers,
Frank
August 20, 2008
It was 35 degrees and 85% humidity yesterday and I was a puddle. Thank goodness the Finishline Tower is air conditioned.
The competition here is fierce!
Adam is really on track. He did a world best time. It might be interesting to know we have introduced World and Olympic “best times”. We do not call them World Records because every course is so different, but these are the best times recorded at any World Championship or Olympics to date.
The Mens K-2 did well as did Ladies K-2, and Mens C-2. In Mens C-1 500 Mark looked very strong. I have been talking with Anne Merklinger each day and she says the team is basically on track with their expectations. Let’s get into the finals and then see what happens.
Cheers,
Frank
August 19, 2008
It was really hot on Monday at the course. We practiced a dry run in the morning and it was really quite bad for us as officials. We cleaned up most things and by the afternoon races no one knew that we had any behind the scene problems.
There was a lot of stress on everyone as TV and the media are absolutely everywhere and there are hundreds of them from around the world. You get an appreciation about how big these Olympics are.
The Canadian Team did exactly as expected and I hope today is as good. Last night the National Chinese officials took all the international technical officials to a beautiful restaurant where there was traditional food and beer.
All for now,
Frank
August 18, 2008
It has been an interesting adventure so far. We had the Team leaders meeting yesterday, we will practice this morning and begin races this afternoon. Rowing has moved out after their last race and the course transition began to happen right away and hopefully we will have no technical problems. We won’t know until our rehearsal this morning. The athletes are very anxious to get started . This last week would be the toughest mentally that they will ever experience in their lives. If they are prepared they will be fine.
For me the food is a challenge but the beer is good. Paula and I have done some sightseeing and it is an absolute carnival atmosphere in downtown Beijing. The Chinese have been extremely friendly and helpful.
It is hard to get people talking much about Canoe09 as they are so focused on the Olympics but many officials are planning to make a vacation in Nova Scotia after out competition. There is a lot of discussion about the upcoming elections and political situations in our next Congress in the Fall.
Cheers,
Frank
