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Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2008 71 Van Koeverden, friends deal with the shock T hough everyone there had dragged themselves out of bed in the middle of the night, there was electricity in the SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS: Local kayaker Adam van Koeverden ponders what went wrong after his disappointing eighthplace finish in the Olympic K-1 1,000metre final Friday in China. Van Koeverden, a bronze medalist in the 1,000m four years ago in Athens, inexplicably -- even to him -- faded in the final stretch of Friday's race. The Loyola grad hoped to rebound this morning as he attempted to repeat as the Olympic 500m champion. RICHARD LAUTENS / TORONTO STAR air. It was 3:30 a.m., but there was not a heavy eyelid or a yawn to be found. As Adam van Koeverden appeared on the TV screen prior to Friday's kayaking singles 1,000-metre final, the 100 or so supporters who had gathered at Oakville's Boston Pizza let out a huge cheer. The roars continued as Canada's Olympic flagbearer matched Great Britain's Tim Brabants stroke for stroke down the course, trailing his rival ever so slightly through the first 600 metres. Anticipating van Koeverden's devastating finishing kick, the decibel level continued to rise and it seemed a gold medal was in the cards. As they approached the 800m mark, Brabants lengthened his lead. It was becoming apparent that gold was not going to happen on this day. It didn't matter. Fellow paddlers and supporters continued to scream. Suddenly, in the last 50m, it looked like a medal was in jeopardy. That only made them scream louder, as if the sound waves would reach Beijing and help propel van Koeverden's kayak over the line. Though van Koeverden continued to paddle hard, his kayak slowed as if the burden of a nation's medal hopes were weighing it down. Rivals zipped by him at the line and as van Koeverden crossed the line in eighth place, his head sunk into his hands. There were murmurs throughout the restaurant as van Koeverden lifted his boat out of the water and the crowd fell into stunned silence as he approached a CBC reporter. "I don't know," he said when asked what went wrong. "I just didn't have it today. It's a hell of a time not to have it. That's the worst 1,000 (metres) I've put together in years. I was a spectator." Van Koeverden is certainly confident in his ability, and with good reason. He had earned a medal in his last 18 international races, 14 of them gold. Though often portrayed as cocky, he's never guaranteed victory. He's taken a realistic approach to racing and been respectful of his fellow competitors' abilities, knowing that on any given day, someone can deliver the performance of their life -- just as he did four years ago to win the 500m gold in Athens. "I really can't expect to win every race," he said in May after winning the Canadian Olympic trials. "I can demand it of myself, but it's pretty tough to say the only performance I can accept is (gold). I can only control myself. If someone shows up and beats me, more power to them." That's exactly what Brabants did. What nobody saw coming, including van Koeverden, were the six paddlers between them at the finish line. The guy who makes no apologies, even when he's calling out national icons like Don Cherry or Elvis Stojko, was now turning toward the camera and, with a slight tremble in his voice, saying to no one in particular and everyone in the country all at once, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." "I've based a whole career on surprising myself and the people around me. And I think, in a way, I have done it again," van Koeverden said. He certainly did. "I've never seen him have a bad race and never when it matters most," said fellow Oldershaw said van Koeverden had a year to Olympic champion and former training part- rally from his performance at the worlds -- a ner Larry Cain. "He's going to be a little pissed luxury he wasn't afforded at the Olympics. off and, provided his confidence isn't shattered, "Well, I've only got 24 hours to regroup," he's going to go home, regroup and be the guy van Koeverden said. "I'm really just putting to beat (today)." this race behind me and coming back to have And that's just it. This was unchartered ter- a good one (Saturday)." ritory. Even those who know van And with that, the silence Koeverden best were unsure of "Provided his ended as a final huge cheer went how he responds to a bad per- confidence isn't out for van Koeverden. And there formance, simply because it's shattered, he's certainly would have been more been so long since he had one. going to go cheers this morning as his supBurloak head coach Adam porters reconvened to watch the home, regroup Oldershaw said the only compara500m. ble situation he could remember and be the guy to "Everyone has off days," said was the 2006 World beat (today)." fellow Burloak kayaker Tanya Championships, when a pair of Thomson. "We will all be here fourth-place finishes left van Larry Cain (Saturday) cheering for him Koeverden off the podium at an and we'll try to channel that international regatta for the first time since energy to Adam." 2002. And with that, Thomson was off to Sixteen It was also one of only two times since his Mile Creek for practice, knowing the sun Olympic victory in Athens that he's been beat- would be coming up shortly. en in the 500m -- the event he raced in this The sun would come up in Beijing today, morning after breaking his own world record too. And van Koeverden was going to race in qualifying earlier in the week. again.