KEY POINTS:
Four years ago Erin Taylor drew inspiration watching Sarah Ulmer burn around the velodrome in Athens en route to Olympic gold.
She fancied a crack at the Games so switched from the non-Olympic surf lifesaving to kayaking and got her reward yesterday when she was named in the
New Zealand team of four for Beijing in August.
Taylor, 20, is the first woman to represent New Zealand at the Olympics in the sport but she's not getting too carried away about that.
"I definitely don't get too wound up about it," she said yesterday. "For me it was the idea of just getting to the Olympics. I think it's probably cool for other women to see if they can get there. It didn't stop me thinking I couldn't because no other girls had been there."
Taylor got the trip by winning the re-raced Oceania raceoff in Penrith in March. She appealed for a re-race saying weed on the course had hindered her in the first race.
She knew she'd done the business back then; however hearing she was in the squad was a moment to savour.
"To hear it in concrete I feel more relieved, and now excited that I'm actually definitely going."
Taylor, who has put university degrees on hold to fulfil her dream, joins Athens silver medallist Ben Fouhy, and K2 pair Mike Walker and Steven Ferguson in the squad, which is being coached by the country's most famous paddlers - Olympic champions Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald.
The squad head to Europe on May 26, with Fouhy leaving five days earlier, for a short training stint in Slovenia, where they have a series of World Cup regattas ahead of a five-week camp in Rockhampton, Queensland. They won't return to New Zealand until after the Games.
Ferguson yesterday maintained that under the single peak regime the squad are operating - unlike many Europeans who have to peak twice in the year, once to qualify and again in Beijing - he's not expecting miracles in the early racing.
"If we are just in the hunt, without having done the speed work, I know we're going to be good," he said. "I would be worried if we weren't within striking distance at the regattas. I think as long as we're making finals we'll certainly be on target."
Rockhampton is shaping as the key period when all the nuts and bolts of speed, strength and technique must be fitted seamlessly. Ferguson is quietly optimistic that the quality is there to have a successful Games regatta in August.
* SQUAD FOR OLYMPICS
K1 500: Steven Ferguson, Erin Taylor
K1 1000: Ben Fouhy
K2 1000: Ferguson, Mike Walker
Olympic buildup includes World Cup regattas at Szeged, Hungary, June 6-8, Duisburg, Germany, June 13-15, and Poznan, Poland, June 27-29