Monday Photo Feature

This Thursday, the U.S. Team Trials for whitewater slalom racing begins at Charlotte, North Carolina.  The event will determine the U.S. national team for World Cup competition in June, and is also an important step for athletes hoping to make the Olympic team.  Only one boat in each of the four Olympic classes--men's single canoe, men's double canoe, women's kayak, and men's kayak--will be allowed to compete in the Games, and the athletes' World Cup performances will be the final factor in deciding who gets to paddle up to the starting gate in London.

Twelve years ago, I participated in the Olympic selection process myself.  Back then, the three-day team trials, held on the Ocoee River near Ducktown, Tennessee, was the only step in the Olympic team selection--if you won your class, you were going to the Olympics.  So the event was in fact the Olympic Trials and had all the fanfare and drama you might expect to go along with that.

Here I am racing on the first day of the 2000 Olympic Trials, competing in men's single canoe (C-1).  I was basically a wide-eyed bumpkin among the confident, debonair, globetrotting stars of U.S. slalom, the nerdy kid stammering as he tries to ask the homecoming queen for a date.  Nobody expected me to challenge for a spot on the team, and I didn't provide any surprises.

But I was there, adding my six runs to the books.  Here's a photo to prove it.


Photo by Harrison Shull.