ICF announces 2004 Whitewater Slalom Countries June 18, 2004
Cathy Hearn images on the road to the 2004 Olympic Games
ICF announces Final Olympic Whitewater Course Configuration H2O Video & Obstacles Video
Italian Coach Cathy Hearn comments on the 2004 Athens Olympic Course
June 10th ~
Here in Athens, it is almost always sunny and warm. Most of the time, there is a nice breeze coming off the Saronic Gulf, making the environment really quite delightful. Not really tropical, rather, Mediterranean. Imagine, that, since it actually is part of the Mediterranean.
During the first week of this training block, it was quite quiet, since most of the Euros were in Skopje, Macedonia, racing in the European Championships. Some countries elected to send their Olympic boats here to train while their B-Teams or A-list non-Olympic boats went to Skopje.
Now in the second week of the first training block, there are more athletes here from more countries. Some nations will arrive for the second block, with this time used for base training in preparation for their second peak of the year (the first being for their national selections or the Olympic selection.) Others are conserving their travel time, energy or money, or are putting off their Athens-course training for other reasons.
The course configuration here should be finalized by June 14. Now it is
in yet another incarnation, with some small changes in the last few days. The
rate of change has slowed from the frantic pace of the week post-World Cup (when
changes were being made between morning and afternoon workouts, and then again
in the evening or early morning). Each time something is changed, even
something very small, it has an effect on other sections of the course,
sometimes very large changes relative to the obstacle changed. It makes for a
situation more like a natural river, where a change in water level, or the
natural movement of some sediment or boulders can completely change the nature
of a whole section of river. It becomes clear that some athletes have better
adaptation skills than others, and also better skills of observation. Probably
it is good that logjams or other dangers are unlikely to occur here.
The mood of the training is relatively calm, day-to-day training, but with
intense focus. The athletes are in the phase of trying to learn as much as
possible about the course and to gain an idea of what is fast here. Naturally,
they are pushing the limits, and sometimes they crash. Pretty much each
session, there is someone who gets worked in a hole, or pitons an obstacle
really powerfully, breaks a boat or loses a paddle. Sometimes more than one of
these things occurs in one episode, and then we always hope that one of the many
video cameras captures the action.
The course is intense, and pretty tiring to work on twice a day. The basic
configuration now features very fast water, good eddies, strong holes and some
nice waves. It is a serious stretch of water, but also one, which provides good
help if you approach it intelligently. Of course, that is always the challenge
in whitewater.
Construction continues, mostly in the form of landscaping and excavating in
order to retrofit something or repair of poor quality concrete. The landscaping
is pretty nice; one feature is really thick green grass, which now is long and
lush in most places. Additionally, they have planted succulent anenomes which
erupt as most fantastic purple blooms with brilliant yellow centers on the
steeper slopes around the course.
For more check out Cathy Hearn's Olympic Preview.
An interview with Pablo McCandless also has more on the Olympic course.
April 28th ~
Here in Athens the course is changing every day or even every half day as they move the obstacles around and let the athletes probe the depths. Some is entertaining, some is really enjoyable and some is just brutal. Anyhow, the course is always challenging and the athletes are paddling well, if sometimes a little disoriented. Everyone is amazed at the big changes that are wrought by moving little obstacles, and at the far-reaching nature of the changes, both up and down the course from the moved obstacle.
May 1st ~
Tomorrow we wrap up the training block here in Athens, with a new river each day after the World Cup as they move obstacles around trying to create the ultimate slalom river. I got to paddle on it the other day. It has the most fantastic ocean feel in a river-- the features are somewhat soft while at the same time being very powerful and some of them very weird, like the Potomac in flood. We all had a big celebratory moment the other day when the obstacle movement resulted in nice wave-holes in a couple of places including the biggest gnarliest drop (which previously had been characterized by a very vertical punchy hole which was difficult to jump well).
