Kayaking: Anger as Ferguson loses to improve medal chances

9.15am - UPDATE

A disgruntled Kiwi kayaker has attacked Steven Ferguson, his father and coach Ian, and the Olympic programme.

Owen Hughes has labelled Tuesday night's performance by Ferguson junior in the K1 500 heats as 'pathetic'.

Steve Ferguson came last deliberately so his back problem would not flare up again.

If he had pulled out of the 500, Ferguson would have had to withdraw from the K2 boat as well.

Hughes, who competed for New Zealand in last year's world canoeing championships, says there should have been another paddler in that race, as NZ qualified three kayakers for the Games, not two.

Hughes, outlining his frustrations in a lengthy email sent to Newstalk ZB, said Ian Ferguson did not want to know about sending a third paddler to Athens because he wanted to keep it in the family.

Hughes also claimed Ben Fouhy hates the media, and that is why he spent nearly all of his Olympic buildup in Europe.

He says people need to know what is really going on in New Zealand kayaking.

Owen Hughes says Tuesday night was a pathetic and woeful effort which he was extremely embarrassed and angry about.

An annoyed Ian Ferguson says Hughes' comments are simply a case of sour grapes.

He says Hughes was not good enough to be selected.

He says he will not let this distract him ahead of the kayak finals on Friday night.

Steven Ferguson virtually paddled in slow motion to finish a distant last in his K1 500m heat at the Schinias course, achieving his goal of avoiding the semifinals.

The 24-year-old had to finish last among the 28 paddlers in the 500m heats action as the top 27 all advanced.

Ian said: "He was hating doing that. He's been worried, he just didn't want to do it but he knew he had to for all the right reasons.

"The last thing you want to do is throw a race ... but unfortunately the back is still a little bit touchy.

"It was a chance we couldn't take, because we know we're in with a good chance of a medal in the double."

Steven could not simply withdraw from the race, as regatta regulations meant he would have been disqualified from the K2 final.

Ian Ferguson said his son would have had a good chance of making the final of his solo sprint event.

Instead he clocked a time of 2m 6.937s - more than 30s slower than leading qualifier Eirik Veraas Larsen of Norway.

Steven found himself in the same heat as the least talented competitor - Tony Lespoir of the Seychelles.

Despite his worst efforts, Steven still nearly beat Lespoir.

At times the strong tailwind threatened to blow Ferguson in front of his struggling rival.

Ian said his son paddled significantly more quickly in his warmdown session.

- NEWSTALK ZB, NZPA