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WINDSOR, ENGLAND—Adam van Koeverden and Mark Oldershaw have always shared plenty in common. They’ve been world-touring roommates and fellow members of the Burloak Canoe Club since they were kids.
Now they’re both Olympic medallists. On the day that saw Oakville’s van Koeverden win silver in the K-1 1,000 metres, his fourth career Olympic medal, Burlington’s Oldershaw claimed his first such honour. Paddling in the C-1 1,000 m, Oldershaw used a late-race surge to earn the bronze medal.
Oldershaw, whose grandfather Bert Oldershaw paddled a canoe in the Olympics the last time they were held in London, in 1948, became the first member of his illustrious family to step upon a podium at the Games.
Bert, who competed in three Olympics and died in 2006, had three sons who raced for Canada at the Games. One of them, Scott Oldershaw, is Mark’s father and coach; he also coaches van Koeverden.
In the lead-up to London, Mark Oldershaw had lugged a family artifact to a meeting with journalists at the Burloak club. It was a softwood paddle used by Bert in London.
“Sums up the family tradition in one object,” Mark said. On Wednesday he added another potential heirloom to the family bounty.
In van Koeverden’s race on Wednesday, he moved out to an early lead, opening up a one second gap over second-running Eirik Veras Larsen after 250 m.
Expending too much energy too early in the race has been one of van Koeverden’s self-confessed weaknesses as a 1,000 m racer.
“Patience, as you know, is not my most glaring virtue,” he once told Randy Starkman, the Star’s late Olympics writer.
Larsen gradually closed the divide. At 500 m, van Koeverden’s lead was 0.8 seconds. At 750 m, it was 0.2 seconds. In the furious sprint to the finish, Larsen overtook the Canadian to claim gold by a margin of 0.7 seconds. Germany’s Max Hoff won bronze.
“Overall I am happy with my race. I tried to get as much air in my lungs and keep it going,” van Koeverden said after winning silver. “Everybody is out there trying to win the race and I feel like my race plan went well. I was looking for a good finish. I can find the silver lining in silver.”
The performance helped redeem a subpar performance in the 1,000 m in Beijing, where van Koeverden faded badly to an eighth-place finish and later issued a public apology to the Canadian public.
Van Koeverden had looked dominant in the heats and the semifinals; in the latter, his time was more than a second quicker that his closest rival. Still, while he came into the race as the defending world champion at the distance, he cautioned against putting much stock in anything but the gold-medal race.
“These guys don’t respect that. I don’t respect someone that wins in a semi,” he said on Monday. “It’s like, good job, but the race is on Wednesday.”
Van Koeverden, who had talked about suffering through a bout of pre-Games insomnia, said he was “putting a lot of pressure on himself” to perform well here. Certainly he had less room for error than in his two previous trips to the Olympics. In the quadrennial since he won silver in Beijing in the 500 m, that distance was excluded from the Olympic regatta in favour of the 200 m, in which van Koeverden doesn’t compete.
Asked what he’d been thinking during a sleep-challenged night on the eve of the Games, van Koeverden said: “Just that it has to be good. Just that I have to race fast. Just that I have to be fast. I’m fast most days, so it doesn’t have to be an exceptional day. But it has to be as fast as I can go.”
Oldershaw had battled his own demons en route to London. At the Beijing Games he failed to advance to the final after a subpar work in the semis. The failure haunted him for years.
“I wasn’t fully prepared in Beijing,” Mark said before the Olympics. “Now, going into London, I feel completely ready to challenge for a medal.”
On Wednesday he looked more than ready. Fifth after 250 metres and out of the top three until the latter stages in the race, Oldershaw found the energy to climb the podium. Germany’s Sebastian Brendel won gold while Spain’s David Cal Figueroa outdueled Oldershaw for silver.
Now they’re both Olympic medallists. On the day that saw Oakville’s van Koeverden win silver in the K-1 1,000 metres, his fourth career Olympic medal, Burlington’s Oldershaw claimed his first such honour. Paddling in the C-1 1,000 m, Oldershaw used a late-race surge to earn the bronze medal.
Oldershaw, whose grandfather Bert Oldershaw paddled a canoe in the Olympics the last time they were held in London, in 1948, became the first member of his illustrious family to step upon a podium at the Games.
Bert, who competed in three Olympics and died in 2006, had three sons who raced for Canada at the Games. One of them, Scott Oldershaw, is Mark’s father and coach; he also coaches van Koeverden.
In the lead-up to London, Mark Oldershaw had lugged a family artifact to a meeting with journalists at the Burloak club. It was a softwood paddle used by Bert in London.
“Sums up the family tradition in one object,” Mark said. On Wednesday he added another potential heirloom to the family bounty.
In van Koeverden’s race on Wednesday, he moved out to an early lead, opening up a one second gap over second-running Eirik Veras Larsen after 250 m.
Expending too much energy too early in the race has been one of van Koeverden’s self-confessed weaknesses as a 1,000 m racer.
“Patience, as you know, is not my most glaring virtue,” he once told Randy Starkman, the Star’s late Olympics writer.
Larsen gradually closed the divide. At 500 m, van Koeverden’s lead was 0.8 seconds. At 750 m, it was 0.2 seconds. In the furious sprint to the finish, Larsen overtook the Canadian to claim gold by a margin of 0.7 seconds. Germany’s Max Hoff won bronze.
“Overall I am happy with my race. I tried to get as much air in my lungs and keep it going,” van Koeverden said after winning silver. “Everybody is out there trying to win the race and I feel like my race plan went well. I was looking for a good finish. I can find the silver lining in silver.”
The performance helped redeem a subpar performance in the 1,000 m in Beijing, where van Koeverden faded badly to an eighth-place finish and later issued a public apology to the Canadian public.
Van Koeverden had looked dominant in the heats and the semifinals; in the latter, his time was more than a second quicker that his closest rival. Still, while he came into the race as the defending world champion at the distance, he cautioned against putting much stock in anything but the gold-medal race.
“These guys don’t respect that. I don’t respect someone that wins in a semi,” he said on Monday. “It’s like, good job, but the race is on Wednesday.”
Van Koeverden, who had talked about suffering through a bout of pre-Games insomnia, said he was “putting a lot of pressure on himself” to perform well here. Certainly he had less room for error than in his two previous trips to the Olympics. In the quadrennial since he won silver in Beijing in the 500 m, that distance was excluded from the Olympic regatta in favour of the 200 m, in which van Koeverden doesn’t compete.
Asked what he’d been thinking during a sleep-challenged night on the eve of the Games, van Koeverden said: “Just that it has to be good. Just that I have to race fast. Just that I have to be fast. I’m fast most days, so it doesn’t have to be an exceptional day. But it has to be as fast as I can go.”
Oldershaw had battled his own demons en route to London. At the Beijing Games he failed to advance to the final after a subpar work in the semis. The failure haunted him for years.
“I wasn’t fully prepared in Beijing,” Mark said before the Olympics. “Now, going into London, I feel completely ready to challenge for a medal.”
On Wednesday he looked more than ready. Fifth after 250 metres and out of the top three until the latter stages in the race, Oldershaw found the energy to climb the podium. Germany’s Sebastian Brendel won gold while Spain’s David Cal Figueroa outdueled Oldershaw for silver.
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