'Gold and nothing else'

MATTHEW SEKERES

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

August 6, 2008 at 10:05 PM EST

SAANICH, B.C. — Other than kayaker Adam van Koeverden, few Canadian athletes or teams enter the Beijing Olympics with better gold prospects, or self-induced pressure, than the heavyweight men's eight.

But the glamour boat of a strong Canadian rowing program, unlike van Koeverden, is not seeking consecutive triumphs on the grandest of stages. The men's eight has a different mission: one of redemption and affirmation after a spectacular failure at the previous Olympics.

By this past spring, in a series of interviews, it had become clear the five holdovers from Athens, and coach Mike Spracklen, had spent the past four years dissecting what went wrong and coming to some brutally honest conclusions. They did not talk about their coming race in terms of Olympic experiences, the social consequences of competing in communist China or being satisfied with personal bests if personal bests aren't good enough.

"We're pretty bound and determined to win gold and nothing else," veteran Ben Rutledge said. "It's not something we are wishing for."

Both then and now, the eight's expectations are akin to those of Canada's Olympic hockey teams, even if their results aren't as culturally relevant to the public at large. For these athletes, silver medals are awarded to the first losers. Their single focus doesn't allow for visions of failure, only a celebration from the highest step and a rendition of O Canada.

"You can talk about the Olympic experience and the [athletes'] village, but the only experience we want is to be gold medalists at the top of the podium," captain Kyle Hamilton said. "It may come across as harsh, but that's what we expect of ourselves and I think that's what the country expects of us."

Rewind four years, when the Canadians entered Athens as the favourites after two consecutive world championships and an undefeated run of 17 races. The Canadians rowed a brilliant time in the heat, but were second to the United States as both boats eclipsed the previous world record.

The Canadians advanced to the final, but were already psychologically defeated after crossing the line second.

"We had gone so long winning that when we lost in the heat, it threw us," said Hamilton. "You can't trick yourself into having confidence."

The final was bewildering. Canada was nine seconds off the winning pace of the Americans and never in the race. They had a poor start, missed a 500-metre call for a power stroke, and didn't respond when the Americans made their move. It was all out of character.

"We were prepared for everything except what to do when we lost a race," Rutledge said. "We were on form [in the heat], but we possibly got beat at our best. I think that was too mentally tough for us to figure out."

Rutledge's personal race was wholly forgettable. He expended too much energy at the beginning, and ended the distance in useless shape.

"For the last 300 metres, I could barely get my blade in and out of the water," he said. "I couldn't even move my body. I was full of lactate. That has never happened before or since."

In the years since, Spracklen has made some strategic changes, lessening both the internal and external competition in the Olympic build-up, and the rowers that stayed with the national program have learned from the disappointment. Like four years ago, they head into the Olympics as world champions and the favourites.

"We're well aware it's the same situation as four years ago," Hamilton said. "We're not stupid."

Both Hamilton and Rutledge said they learned not to let such a small setback affect their next performance. Rather than revel in their excellent accomplishment time in the Athens heat, the Canadian focused on the American victory, and they fooled themselves into believing they had to be much better in the final.

In fact, they had to be just slightly better, and that has recommitted them to the process. The idea is this: If the Canadians' best is the best in the world, than they don't need to worry about any boat but their own.

"I know if we do the process properly, it should mean gold medal," Hamilton said.

The Canadians drew up a light schedule, having raced only once this season at a late-May world cup event in Lucerne, Switzerland. The crew didn't want opponents testing them for weaknesses, so it kept its pre-Olympics sample small.

The athletes tested themselves in three-daily practice sessions three times a day, six days a week, occasionally rowing in four- or two-seaters to keep training fresh. They have spent the last two-plus weeks at a training camp in Japan where they are fine tuning their operation, and getting used to a new time zone.

The last push for a seat came early in the spring, when Scott Frandsen, who will compete in Beijing in the men's pair, unsuccessfully challenged veteran Kevin Light. Sensing the right mindset after Lucerne, Spracklen chose his team. The 70-year-old coaching nomad is known as a taskmaster, but said this crew was self-motivated enough.

"They want to win and I don't need that threat over their head," the Spracklen said.

The Canadians expect their main competition to come from China, the United States, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

The eight's world championship victory last year in Munich was by one boat length, a large margin in a 2000-metre race where tiny distances often separate medal winners. The Lucerne win came in a new German-made Empacher boat. The team changed from a Canadian-made boat this spring, believing a few additional inches could be significant in China.

Spracklen said newcomers Adam Kreek and Dominic Seiterle have added power, while Malcolm Howard and Andrew Byrnes have added endurance. The crew from '04, particularly Hamilton, have improved, and the coach says they are better in every seat.

Two of the new members bring Olympic experience, while three of them had international options and could have competed for other countries.

Jake Wetzel, who was raised in Saskatoon by an American father and Swedish mother, went to the 2000 Sydney Games on the U.S. team before repatriating himself in 2004. He had previous rowed for Canada before attending the University of California at Berkeley.

Byrnes was born in Toronto but moved to New York at age five and was rowing at Bates College in Maine earlier this decade when he was recruited by Canada. He said he is not a hired gun, rather someone who plans to live in Canada after the Olympics.

Seiterle's childhood took him from Montreal to Texas and Delaware, and his post-secondary education was completed at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and at the University of Rochester in New York. He is a dual citizen who spent most of his childhood at a U.S. boarding school.

Seiterle's father is Swiss and his Australian-raised mother is Dutch, so he had plenty of potential routes to the Olympics earlier in his career. He chose Canada because he said the program would help him overcome his weaknesses. Seiterle rowed at the 2000 Games in the men's double before leaving the sport and returning competitively just last year.

The four new men may not have experienced the underachievement in Athens, but have assimilated the businesslike tone set by Hamilton and the veterans.

"It's unfinished business, and mine is long in coming," Seiterle said of the task in China. "I don't need to go see Beijing. I don't need to see the Great Wall. It's not a tourist thing. I'm going to win a gold medal."

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