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As you all know, the Men's Eight is the boat that everyone wants to be in but at the same time many of the guys realize they aren't going to get a shot at a trial. Since we won last year many would assume that all of us had our seats "locked up" for Beijing. This is simply not true. The way that most of the guys locked up their seats was by performing well in training and testing over the winter.
We had one guy, Scott Frandsen who raced in the four last year, that stepped up his game and showed the potential to make the eight go faster and replacing one of the current World Champions. The coach gave him the opportunity to challenge our bowman Kevin Light.
Just a quick history lesson here, these two guys didn't just meet or anything and Scott didn't come out of nowhere. He is an accomplished oarsman in his own right and was a member of the 2004 Athens Olympic Eight, has won an Under-23 World Championship in the Eight, two NCAA Championships at the University of California and also won the famous boat race between Oxford/Cambridge in England brining the win home for Oxford.
That being said Kevin is a 3 time World Champion in the Eight, a member of the Athens Eight and in 2006 won a bronze medal in the pair at the World Championships.
These guys are both very accomplished rowers and both deserve success in Beijing but only one could go in the Eight. The coach decided that it would be settled over two pieces of work. We would go out with Kevin and race a 1250m piece and a 750m piece. We come into the dock and do the same with Scott. Add the times of each guy and the fastest one wins.
Kevin was faster by 2.5 seconds overall.
This was not an easy task for us in the Eight as we are good friends with both guys and have a good history with both guys. We all felt that we gave it everything we had for both guys and it was a fair fight.
As the coach has told us many times....we aren't here to row with our friends. Friends come and go but a medal last forever.
From here we keep on training and put the pedal down as the Lucerne World Cup is drawing closer. We fly out on May 18!! The regatta starts June 1.
Below is the link to the write-up by the Toronto Star. I also put it in the links along the side of this blog. (April 17)
http://www.thestar.com/article/414946
Shunyi Olympic Rowing Venue
Talk of a boycott has been front and centre in recent weeks and I figured that my 2 cents was worth just as much as the next guy walking down the street....in fact, its worth more since it will influence my life directly!
Did we not learn anything from the boycotts of 1980 & 1984? Did the fighting in Afghanistan stop? Ya....9 years later, and it was most certainly not due to the 1980 Moscow boycott! Politicians and protesters have been trying to use the Olympics for years to further their own messages. What about the athletes like me who just want to compete? I'm not being paid by the government to be an activist, politician or protester, I'm an athlete on a rowing team. (and the pay isn't that good either!)
When people say they think all Canadian athletes should boycott and if we don't we are just being selfish, I say....ya....maybe I am.....but I've been working towards this for 10 years and I'm not about to give up on it and stop now. I challenge those pro-boycotters to let me come over to their house and search it up and down for goods Made in China. I know for a fact that I will find many, many things.....in fact the keyboard and mouse that I am using is made there. Turn yours over and check it out. It is a bit hypocritical of people to tell me to boycott the Olympics when they can't even boycott Chinese made goods. When your house is "china clean" come talk to me.
When I speak to children, I often talk about setting goals and reaching for you dreams. For some being a doctor or lawyer or teacher would be considered living their dream. Mine is winning an Olympic Gold Medal. The window of opportunity to achieve this is very small. How would you like it if I told you that you could no longer live that dream of being a teacher and you would have to do something else? No more teaching. It would be an appalling thing throughout this nation, yet some think telling me the same thing is acceptable.
At the end of the day I think what is going on in Tibet is terrible. I don't agree with the way the Chinese government handles its people politically or socially. I just don't see how me not competing at the Olympics will solve anything. I am an athlete caught up in the middle of a political agenda. I didn't choose which nation would host the games. It could be anywhere in the world for all I care, I just want the opportunity to race and compete for my country. More people in Canada will be proud of me if I come home with an Olympic Gold Medal than they will if I am forced to make a worthless political stand. I thought I lived in a nation of opportunity, freedom and democracy?
