Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Seven Olympic Tickets

Seven. That's how many U.S. canoe/kayak athletes will represent Team USA at the London 2012 Olympic Games. That's the number of athletes I will be in charge of promoting and fielding their media requests. Four kayakers and three canoe athletes. Two flatwater sprint athletes and five whitewater slalom athletes. Six boats, including a two-man canoe slalom boat. The final two slots were earned this past weekend at the Slalom Pan American Championships in Brazil, which I covered from my apartment in Fort Worth. Click HERE to read my event recap.

Which athletes will fill each boat remains to be seen. The picture will become clearer after the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in April. I'll be attending the sprint trials Oklahoma City on April 20. For sprint kayakers Carrie Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) and Ryan Dolan (Kailua, Hawaii), it's "win and you're in." The media attention is already starting to really pick up.

Countdown to London: 135 days

The photo above is of me interviewing an Iranian alpine skier through an interpreter at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. The photo appeared in the sports section of the local German-language newspaper.