New Zealand kayaking great Ian Ferguson says if Max Brown and Grant Clancy can help their K4 500m crew make the final in Paris, their controversial entry into the C2 500m event will have been worth it.
Brown and Clancy, kayak specialists who have only been learning the canoe discipline for three months, presented a scene some have labelled embarrassing as they finished both their heat and quarter-final in the C2 500m event nearly a minute behind their closest rival.
The fact New Zealand even had a C2 500m boat in Paris came about after earlier this year Canoe Racing New Zealand (CRNZ) decided to take advantage of a quirk in the qualification rules. They entered a C2 boat at the Oceania championships in February, with the winner of the three-nation race (against Samoa and Australia) gaining an automatic spot to Paris.
That success gained two more Olympic quota spots – which enabled them to send a K4 crew to the Olympics, as Brown and Kurtis Imrie had already qualified a K2 boat. The priority target was the big boat but they had missed a spot through other more conventional routes, which resulted in Tuesday’s scenario, with a pair of rookies in the C2 500m race against the best nations in the sport.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB, four-time Olympic gold medallist Ferguson said while the C2 500m was a tough watch, it could yet prove to be justified.
“If they [K4 500m] do well, then that proves they had the right to be there. If they make the final, then that’s great,” Ferguson said.
“It was a bad look, but as long as the greater purpose works out I guess in the end, that they would do well, hold their head high when they race their other race, they could be forgiven.
“If the boys do well in their chosen event, then I say they’ve got to be forgiven because for them it’s very, very embarrassing as well ... They would have hated that,” Ferguson said.
The five-time Olympian theorised that Brown and Clancy could have performed better than their showing on Tuesday had they spent more time training for the event, with the pair having only been learning the discipline for three months.
“I don’t know why they didn’t do a little bit more training, they are capable of going much faster than that in a C boat if they wanted to ... but they’ve kept on focusing on the K4 which is their main goal.”
The men’s K4 crew came second in their quarter-final, which saw them progress to Thursday’s semifinals. There, the top four in each race will make the final.
If they do indeed make the final, Ferguson said the ends will have justified the means.
“So their butts are on the line to do well, I guess, and they’ve put it out there so they’ve got to do well.”
CRNZ high-performance boss Nathan Luce agrees it was an unorthodox move but feels the end justifies the means, given the encouraging performance in the K4 500m on Tuesday, where the New Zealand crew progressed to the semifinals on Thursday, via a second place in their quarter-final.
“The results showed that they deserve to be here,” Luce told the Herald’s Michael Burgess.
“They had the sixth-best time across the 11 boats leading into the semis and that’s what you want in the Olympic Games, you want your best boats competing. Sure, we found a roundabout way to get them here but they’re here and they’ve proved they belong.”
Despite some likely adverse reaction, Luce also had no issue with the spectacle created in the C2 500m, with the New Zealand boat nowhere near their rivals.
“I don’t think they disrespected the C2 discipline,” said Luce. “There are developing countries that come to the games all the time. It’s not just about winning and medals … there are athletes across all disciplines.”
Ferguson concurred and said the Oceania spot is made available to encourage more nations from around the globe to compete in canoe racing.
“It wasn’t high enough up the order at the world champs and any qualifying spot [the K4], so they were basically rejected from that selection policy and we got in under a zone area that they want to keep people from all around the world competing ... which would have been great if it was in the kayak event, it would have been totally acceptable, but it’s gone into the canoe which is not their expertise at all, it’s not even their type of boat.”
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