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Canoe / Kayak: |
September 20, 2000 |
Gold Medal K1 / Gold Medal C2 |
| Penrith white water stadium is by far the
coolest Olympic venue I've ever been to (Atlanta included)! A completely
man made white water course, it provides a challenging and remarkably
natural setting for the competitors. It's a two hour ride from Sydney
Circular Quay, but easily worth the time. The action was fast, different
and exciting. The fans were packed in (a sold out crowd), knowledgeable
and hailed from all over the globe. I took a seat down in the front by a
pair of upstream gates. The racers had to negotiate the two upstream gates
one after the other, I think it was one of the best viewing locations in
the place.
The lone American in the medal round was Scott Shipley in the K1 - Single Man Kayak. He put in a great show with a 5th place finish. The powerhouse Thomas Schmidt from Germany leapt out to an early lead and nailed the coffin shut with his last run, capturing the two fastest times of the day and a gold medal. In the C2 - Two Man Canoe competition a pair of brothers from Slovakia, Pavol and Peter Hochschorner took the lead after their second run through the course. The final competitors from France were on pace to over take the lead and win the gold medal when they missed a gate and were penalized 52 seconds, pushing them to seventh place. |
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The man made Penrith white water stadium, packed with screaming fans. |
The starting gate on the Penrith white water course. |
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| Yours truly getting some front-row action at Penrith | The pair from the Czech Republic negotiate upstream gate #10. |
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American Scott Shipley surges toward gate 9 |
American Scott Shipley on his second run |
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| For a brief time, Shipley was in the lead... | |
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Video Clips (MPEG) |
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| A two man canoe negotiates the double upstream gates (5.0MB) | |
| American Scott Shipley goes through the double upstream gates. (4.5MB) | |
