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BEIJING — The glamour boat of Canadian rowing has exorcised its demons, even while the gremlins around the crew continue to multiply.
Coming off a meltdown in Athens four years ago, the men's heavyweight eight boat won its Olympic heat in dominating fashion Monday afternoon, looking every bit like the defending world champion. But the race at Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park did not go off without some oddities, most notably an Australian boat that crossed lanes and nearly collided with the Canadians.
That rare occurrence came after the Canadians lost their bowball, a safety bumper at the front of the boat, at the start line, and after the heat was postponed from Sunday because of lightning.
"Definitely," crew member Adam Kreek said when asked if the strong showing erased the lingering doubts of Athens. "I haven't thought once about what happened four years ago."
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It's on the water that some of Canada's athletes are expected to perform the best in the Beijing games. Kayaker Adam van Koeverden heads into the Games a strong prospect and the men's eight rowing team is hoping to erase their Athens nightmare with victory in China.
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At the last Games, the Canadians entered as the two-time defending world champions and the heavy gold-medal favourites. But when they lost to the U.S. in the preliminary heat, they were psychologically rattled and crashed to fifth in the final, some nine seconds behind the winning Americans.
The same pre-race storyline applies in Beijing. Canada is the defending world champion and gold-medal favourite.
"We're physically better than everybody else," Kreek said. "We have more experience. We've trained harder. We have the best coach. If we have our best race on Sunday, no one can beat us. It's like when you have the most chips at the table in a poker game. No one can push us around. We have the big stack."
Monday, at the 750-metre mark, the rudder on the Australian boat jammed and paralyzed the coxswain's ability to steer. The Aussies were drifting to their right, and crossed the buoys into the Canadian lane.
"In 10 years of rowing, I've never seen that," Canadian Jake Wetzel said. "It's just bizarre."
If not for alert coxswain Brian Price, the Canadian boat would have been in its path. Price called for a 10-stroke surge and the boat was out of trouble.
"As soon as I saw it starting to happen, right away instinct kicked in and I said 'OK, we've got to push out of here,'" Price said. "Everyone could see it but I was trying to keep it calm so that everyone did exactly what we needed to get out of there."
By the midpoint, the Canadians had a commanding boat-length lead and were able to dial it down and still qualify for the final on Sunday. They crossed the line in 5:27.69 and had the fastest time through 1,000 metres. They won their heat by more than seven seconds.
Prior to the start, Price gesticulated, calling for an official's attention after the bowball, a small rubber ball, dropped off the boat.
"I wanted to make sure they knew, so that when we got to the finish it wasn't a problem," Price said.
Due to the heavy rains, the water level at Shunyi has risen and the bowball was higher than usual, meaning it wasn't flush against a plastic starting gate that prevents the boat from moving forward. When the boat drifted backwards and then forward into the gate, the bowball caught on the gate and popped off like a bottle cap.
The missing bowball meant the Canadians weren't allowed to cool down and had to row straight to the dock following the race. Price explained that minus a bowball, a boat at speed is a weapon and could cut through objects like a knife through butter.
"With a bowball, it's like a tennis ball going through butter," he said. "Basically, it was a safety issue."
On the women's side, the heavyweight eight finished third in their heat, more than six seconds behind the victorious U.S. crew. The Canadians will go to repechage Tuesday, where they must finish in the top four to qualify for the final on Sunday.
