not polo but...

[lisette]

still our boys...
HELP! I am stuck in the isolation of melbourne Australia, and dont know what happened to steven in the K1 heats.
Anyone know?
would love to hear.
Lisette

[Polo Newbie]

ben fouhey k1-1st in heat-final
ben fouhey,steve fergk2-2nd in heat -straghit to finalstill our boys...
HELP! I am stuck in the isolation of melbourne Australia, and dont know what happened to steven in the K1 heats.
Anyone know?
would love to hear.
Lisette

[Paul1]

He came last because due to a back injury he wanted to pull out of the K500 but they wouldnt let him only pull out of that and just race in the double

[vashti]

Now Owen Hughes, who is an ex-Olympic slalom racer, and who is in the K4 who aren't at the Olympics, is slamming him in the press. He's sent a 45 point email to newsrooms around the country to support his contention that Steveo only made it into that event because of his father's prior success.

Ozo is probably right to be frustrated at the way Olympic participation is decided in this country, but his public attack on a fellow athlete to further his own agenda is beyond the pale.

[lisette]

thanks guys- I dont get any news here and its really driving me nuts.
jees-I understand the logic behind it but it must have been blody hard to do!
x

[Polo Newbie]

Apparently owen hughes is actually nzs k1 500m national champion?? but ian wouldnt let him have a race of against his son for the olympic spot?? so he would be very frustrated that he wasnt racing if he wanted to give it his best shot and thought he had a chancethanks guys- I dont get any news here and its really driving me nuts.
jees-I understand the logic behind it but it must have been blody hard to do!
x

[guest]

I reckon that who ever qualified NZ for that spot at the Olympics should race it - in this case Steve. Just because he wasn't national champ doesn't necessarily mean he isn't the fastest. He may just not have been peaking for that particular race.

Otherwise you get the like the Americans where they have seperate Olympic trials which has ruled out some of their fastest runners in the past because of the strict selection process.

[vish]

K1 is an extremely competitive event. To compete for NZ at that level, you have to be prepared to NOT get a medal, even if you are extremely fast. (You have to keep going back to try again!) When I was paddling flatwater, and I wasn't a good paddler, I was told the best bet for NZ was in the K4 boat. I was aiming to get competitive, and I'd managed to make my first final, but I blew out my shoulder. Then I decided it was d_a_m_n_e_d boring.

Anyway, back to the point: to say that the National Champion isn't necessarily the fastest is a weird argument! You have to be able to peak several times at the top, including Nationals, and you have to be consistently fast. Of course the National Champ is the fastest, and of course they deserve a representative place, but in this case, the same old story got trundled out about how K4 is the boat to be in. I support Steveo, but I also support Ozo, in that I think it would have been fantastic to see him have a crack at it. As we did have three spots, and only sent two athletes, I think perhaps a third athlete should have gone. :thumbup: