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Sport by Sport: Canoe-Kayak
About Canoe | About Kayak | Event Courses
Sunday, September 10, 2000
Making Seattle splash
By Ronn C. Judd
Seattle Times staff columnist
Some really nasty stuff grows in Seattle's Green Lake. And some pretty amazing stuff grows out of it.
Case in point: More than half of the U.S. canoe and kayak team paddling for medals in Australia.
Flatwater kayaker Peter Newton spent time there. So did teammates John Mooney, Tamara Jenkins, Kathy Colin and Jordan Malloch. The lone abstention from the Green Lake club is likely whitewater kayaker Scott Shipley of Poulsbo, and he's probably at least been around the lake's jogging track a few times.
Three of those six still call the Seattle area home: Jenkins, a Nathan Hale High School graduate who lives in Seattle; Malloch, who is from Seattle and attending the University of Washington; and Newton, who lives in Issaquah and works on the Eastside. They're all a paddling force expected to give the U.S. its best shot in many years at a place on the medals stand at the Penrith Lakes kayak venue near Sydney.
The group, as usual, represents an odd coupling of rivals-turned-teammates. Like most other Olympic sports, kayaking takes competitors who wage fierce combat against one another for most of their careers and places them on a team. Unlike most sports, kayaking rivals wind up in the same boat, inches apart -- depending on their former foes to help them to a medal.
Such is the case with Jenkins, 21, a fashion model when she's not in her kayak (look for her in the August Esquire), and Colin, 26, a former Husky crew member and 1997 UW grad. Colin was favored to win the 500-meter flatwater kayak singles race at the Olympic trials in California in June over Jenkins, whom she had beaten in two previous races. But Colin was nipped at the finish line by the younger Jenkins, who earned the right to represent the U.S. in the event in the Olympics.
Colin was visibly devastated. But the next day, she had to get back in the doubles boat with Jenkins and fight off challengers for the K-2 race. They succeeded, each qualifying for the Olympics.
That quick pride-swallow trick is never easy, Colin said. On the other hand, what makes Jenkins so tough to beat in singles also makes her an asset in the doubles boat.
"We are very different paddlers," Colin said. "Her strength is technique and finesse. My strength is my endurance and my power. Over the years, we've learned how to use our differences as assets. We've learned to trust each other a lot."
Jenkins, who got her start with Seattle Canoe Club, and Colin, a Hawaii native, are both new to the Olympics; most of their male teammates have been to the games previously.
The U.S. women made a poor showing in the 1996 Olympics, but "Tamara and I are now considered a (medal) threat" in K-2, Colin said.
Still, the duo isn't counting on a medal. "I'd be very satisfied if we can finish in the top six," Colin said.
Not so on the men's side, where veteran paddlers such as Newton, 30, have done the get-acquainted-with-the-Olympics routine, and don't want to come home again without a medal.
This will be the third Olympics for Newton, who got into the sport through outrigger canoeing in his native Oahu and later honed his flatwater skills with former Olympian Greg Barton while attending Western Washington University in Bellingham.
Newton carries loads of international experience into Sydney: He was the first American to win three medals in a single Pan American Games (1995, Argentina). He's been in top form in recent years, helping the U.S. K-4 1,000-meter team to a gold at the 1999 Pan Am Games, where he also won a silver medal in a K-1 500-meter sprint.
Newton teamed with Seattle native Mooney, 36, who now lives in Eugene, Ore., in the doubles competition in at the '96 Olympics. They finished fifth.
Newton qualified for Sydney in the U.S. four-man boat, but might also race K-2 doubles with his longtime paddling partner, Angel Perez of Miami.
Note the "might." That's assuming that Perez wins an appeal with the International Olympic Committee. Under IOC rules, Perez, a Cuban immigrant, had to seek permission from the Cuban government to switch nations and compete for the U.S. Cuba said no.
When this article went to press, an appeal to the IOC had been filed. If it's denied, Perez would be stricken from the U.S. roster. And, depending on politics at the international canoe/kayak level, the U.S. K-4 entry, including its three other members, could be disqualified.
It's not clear whether that would leave a spot open for Newton, who finished second with Perez in the K-2 qualifying races, to compete in that event. If not, it's likely to be a crushing blow to Newton, who considers the K-2 500 his specialty.
If both are allowed to compete, Perez and Newton would be medal contenders in Sydney. (Although they didn't qualify for the team in the K-2 boat, U.S. Coach Jerzy Dziadkowiec has the option of shuffling paddlers to different events once the Games start; same goes for Colin and Jenkins, both of whom still would like to paddle the single U.S. 100-meter singles kayak in Sydney.)
Newton and Perez finished first in the K-2 200 meters and sixth in the K-2 500 meters at a recent major World Cup meet that included traditional powerhouses Hungary, Germany and Poland.
"We were fourth in the '98 World Championships, and we've been close in big races the last couple years," Newton said. "The K-2 500 is a really fast race, really close. I think if we can have a good race in Sydney, we can win a medal for sure."
Newton wasn't saying for sure this summer, but he's given indications this might be his last Olympics. If so, he'll go out on top of the sport, at least at the U.S. level.
Newton is likely to join Mooney, 36, in any reconfigured U.S. K-4 entry, which also could include Perez and fellow Olympic veterans Philippe Boccara and Stein Jorgenson.
Malloch, a sprint canoeist who also spent his formative years on Green Lake, was named to the team just weeks ago, after the U.S. got word it was being granted one sprint-canoe slot.
A 21-year-old UW student, Malloch won the 500-meter C-1 Olympic trials in June, but he's a versatile paddler, also placing first in the C-2 200, C-2 500 and C-2 1,000 at the national championships last month in Georgia. Malloch won two bronze medals at the 1999 Pan Am Games.
None of those paddlers, however, faces the medal pressure weighing on Poulsbo native Scott Shipley, 29, the longtime U.S. whitewater kayaking king who seemingly is cursed by bad luck at the Olympics. He has dominated the U.S. whitewater kayak scene for a decade, and ranked second on the World Cup tour this summer.
But the eight-time national champion, a 1989 North Kitsap High School graduate, has fallen short twice under the Olympic flag. He missed a gate in Barcelona, finishing 27th. He went into the Atlanta Games as a medal favorite once more, but finished a disappointing 12th.
He'll be looking for a major turnaround -- and redemption -- on the 2000 Games' kayak course, a manmade river at Penrith.
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