With last year’s Olympic Games in Paris still fresh in the memory and focus now turning to Los Angeles 2028, you would think it’s too early for athletes to start setting their sights on Brisbane 2032.
But among the 1,000-strong field competing at this week’s International Canoe Federation Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal there are many paddlers who already have that Games at the forefront of their minds.
Today marks exactly seven years to go before the Olympic Games opens in Brisbane, Australia with Canoe Sprint and Canoe Slalom set to be on the programme.
It’s a milestone date that is filling the Australian junior team with excitement and spurring them on to achieve their Olympic dreams.
“It’s seven years away and I’m absolutely keen,” said Flynn Whelan, 18.
“We will have all the best racers in the world, I’m excited to see them race and maybe participate myself.
“It’s great for Australian sport, great for international sport and it’s going to be so cool to watch.”
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Taya Cassidy, 17, said: “I’m really looking forward to it.
“It’s a really good target, especially for young Australian athletes to aspire towards and compete on their own home grounds.”
Cassidy and Whelan will be aged 24 and 25 respectively when Brisbane plays host to the Olympic Games.
It’s a seven-year journey which Kenny Wallace has taken and culminated with success having secured gold in the men’s kayak single 500m and bronze in the men’s K1 1000m at the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 when aged 25.
“I competed in the Junior World Championships in 2001,” said Wallace.
“Seven years later, I competed in my first Olympic Games and won a gold and a bronze.
“These athletes are now racing at a Junior World Championships and I have no doubt that we are going to see a lot of these faces again in seven years’ time.”
Wallace is in Montemor-o-Velho as Team Leader of the Australian team at the ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships.
The three-time Olympic medallist and multiple world champion is Paddle Australia’s National Performance Pathways Lead who is helping the next generation of talented paddlers in his country.
“We have an incredible group of athletes paddling in Australia,” said Wallace.
“We don’t have many athletes but I feel like the ones that we do have are some of the best in the world.
“There is a standard and tradition that has been set for quite some years and decades.
“We have a very rich history of paddling in Australia and these athletes are upholding it in every aspect they can and I know that they are definitely enjoying themselves when going away with these Australian teams.
“One of our coaches here is Olympic champion David Smith and we have got Pierre van der Westhuyzen in the team who is an Olympic silver medallist, so it’s great to have so many inspiring people to hopefully spur on these athletes.”
Australia is preparing to stage its first Olympic Games since Sydney 2000 which holds a special place in the hearts of Australians.
Wallace says Sydney 2000 is enjoying a long lasting legacy which he hopes Brisbane 2032 will follow.
“I heard something from a couple of Olympic athletes that competed in Paris that made me wonder,” said Wallace.
“They turned around and said ‘I am a Sydney 2000 legacy’.
“That’s quite incredible because they went to Sydney 2000, they watched the Games and 24 years later, they are competing at an Olympic Games themselves.
“An Olympics in your home country isn’t just an amazing event to watch.
“You are inspiring generations of athletes across the board.
“The best part of Sydney 2000 now is that we are still competing at the same venue 25 years later.
“The Paris and Tokyo Olympics trials were both at the Sydney 2000 venue so in terms of legacy and what a venue can do it is great.
“All these athletes here competed there to actually make it to this event so even that in itself is quite amazing.
“I am really looking forward to see what Brisbane and South East Queensland has got on offer.”
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