By Patrick Grier
SPORTSNET.CA
OAKVILLE, Ont. — Twenty-four hours after being honoured as Canada’s flag-bearer at the Beijing Olympics, Adam van Koeverden knows that such fame can be fleeting.
It’s a sentiment perfectly illustrated by the woman who approaches him in an Oakville coffee shop and asks to borrow his Globe and Mail, seemingly unaware that the polite young man who puts the paper together and hands it to her is pictured in bright colour on its front page.
The previous day, the 26-year-old kayaker was front and centre with the nation’s media after being named to lead Canada’s Olympic team into Beijing’s National Stadium on August 8. He has a few radio interviews lined up on this morning, but for the most part, the cameras and microphones have disappeared, albeit only for the moment. They will return when the Olympics open.
On Thursday, Sportsnet.ca sat down for a chat with van Koeverden. Look for his blogs before and during the Olympics on Sportsnet.ca
SN.ca: When you finally had a chance to reflect Wednesday, what were your thoughts?
Adam van Koeverden: "I was pretty relieved just to get home yesterday. I did, quite literally, 11 straight hours of interviews, which is a shock for me because it comes in such waves and you’re a story for such a fleeting moment, but that’s just the nature of it. I’m not complaining. It is just sinking in now, after all the interviews and everything."
SN.ca: When did the significance of the honour start to sink in, when you were informed by the Canadian Olympic Committee last week, or Wednesday when it was announced?
AvK: "It has a few degrees of sinking in. I don’t think it will fully sink in until we’re getting ready on (Aug. 8, the night of the opening ceremony) when I realize, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of really good athletes that I look up to a lot standing behind me and I’ve got a responsibility to lead them in and be proud and be strong and just display the attributes that Chris (Rudge, CEO of the COC) and the COC were hoping I would.’"
SN.ca: What might you be thinking that night as you prepare to enter the Olympic stadium?
AvK: "I think it’s going to be something pretty large; just recognizing that the Olympic movement touches everybody. It’s cool that sports are so important on our planet. I’m such a fan of human athletic potential in general; human physiological potential.
"That’s why I studied it in university, it’s why I read what I read and think about what I think about. It’s one of the main reasons I’m an athlete because I’m fascinated by the human body and its capabilities. That is one of the elements that embody the Olympic spirit.
"I love that the Olympics can touch so many people on different levels. Everybody has different opinions on what it can do for the community and for the world and peace and everything. At the end of the day I just think its all positive and especially now in a world in which there’s a lot to complain about."
SN.ca: You carried the flag at the closing ceremony in 2004. How different might this year be because it is an opening ceremony?
AvK: "The closing is a big party. It’s pretty wild and most people have had a few beers, honestly. It’s the first time a lot of the athletes have been able to unwind. I think the opening ceremony there’s going to be a touch of nervousness, maybe a little bit of apprehension. There’s going to be a bit of a hesitance about how much you’re allowed to enjoy it, how much you’re allowed to let go."
SN.ca: There’s a solemnity to that moment …
AvK: "Yeah, and there’s some care to be taken. I’ll liken it to a risk that you would take if you’re about to jump off a bridge into the water and go swimming or whatever, and you’re thinking to yourself, ‘What do I have to lose?’ In September, when the Olympics are done, I’ll have nothing to lose and I’ll jump off that bridge. But in the Olympics I’ll be thinking about every step that I take so I’m not jeopardizing something bigger."
SN.ca: You said you regretted not attending the opening ceremony in Athens.
AvK: "I regretted it in hindsight. At the time it was the right decision."
SN.ca: How are you different, then, four years later?
AvK: "I’m much more mature, obviously, I’m four years older. I don’t think I’ll mature as much in the next four years as I have in the last four. I was 22, just started university, I still kind of felt like a teenager, especially when you’re an athlete and we kind of put on hold growing up a little bit; you’re pretty self-absorbed still, you’re thinking about your fitness, your health, your speed, your training, everything, and it’s just about you. But I’ve changed a lot personally in that I think I’m calmer when I need to be calm, I’m more on when I need to be on, I have better control over my emotions and reactions to certain things.
"Four years ago I was on this crazy upswing. In 2002 at the world championships I was 16th and qualifying for the Olympics was my goal. Over the course of six months I really just bore down and looked within a lot and discovered and determined for myself exactly what needed to change. That was a very exciting time for me. I could feel myself getting faster week to week. I could feel myself becoming more confident week to week and race to race and I thought, ‘All right, what’s next? How far can I push this?’
"I haven’t plateaued since then but that was my most rapid improvement. That was a very exciting time for me. The improvements come slower as you get faster and faster and as I approach the fastest I’ll ever be, because there is a limit, there is a point at which I’ll reach that point of the fastest I’ll ever be. I hope that that’s my last race.
"I’m paddling better, more efficiently, and it’s less of a challenge to summon that everyday because of the stage that we’re at in our training."
SN.ca: There’s a song (Life’s Been Good to Me, by Joe Walsh) about a rock star’s perspective of fame and he sings: "Everybody’s so different, I haven’t changed." Was that your experience when you returned from Athens with a gold medal?
AvK: "I’m not the same guy. I think Joe Walsh is being ironic, but he’s also trying to point out something that’s he pretending to not notice, even if he’s not speaking from his own perspective.
"Dude, you are different. You’re a big deal now and you weren’t before. Now people want to talk to you and they care about what you say, they care about what you wear and how you look. That changes your life profoundly.
"You feel like you’re the same person, your name is still the same, you signature is still the same, you still live in the same house, you drive the same car, but everybody’s perception of you changes and that’s who you are to everybody else
SN.ca: Sports Illustrated didn’t pick you to win gold in 2004, but they have this year. What do you make of that?
AvK: "Sports Illustrated? They cover kayaking every four years. They know (nothing). I don’t put any faith in people’s predictions. I watched TV yesterday as this economist from out west was talking about his predictions. He’s an economist!
(Predictions) take away from the joy of competition. ‘Oh, I can just guess.’ Good, statistics rule, man. I’m like, ‘Just mail out the medals then. Don’t even race.’ I mean, come on.
"The race is going to be on TV, it’s going to be in real life. Forget about the numbers and the counting game and the predictions. I don’t care. I want to see who actually wins, who actually does it. I’m not interested in whom someone thinks is going to win. I’m interested in the stories behind who is, who might and who didn’t.
"Those stories are real. I’ve heard this economist guy on the radio, on TV, like, what a waste of energy. There are real athletes preparing for the Olympics and they’re talking to some economist who’s guessing."
SN.ca: You have almost a love-hate relationship with the media …
AvK: "I don’t hate the media, I just know the game. I’m a little bit enlightened on the game. (The media) looks for stories (in some places) regardless of whether there’s a story or not because they need something to write about. And that’s fair. So sometimes six months before a Games, something gets blown out of proportion because there’s nothing else to write about. I just feel they’re sometimes digging in the wrong direction. Look around and be introspective."
SN.ca: Is that a lack of research on the media’s part?
AvK: "Maybe it’s a lack of availability on the athlete’s part. I’ve heard some criticism that amateur athletes aren’t as available as professional athletes (prior to competitions).
"The thing is, if (the media) just pops up two months before, a month before, five days before and during, there’s going to be a very severe resentment on behalf of those athletes. It’s like, ‘Oh, you care now because it’s going to sell papers.’ We don’t care about paper sales. I don’t care about how many newspapers get sold.
"If there is any hesitation on the part of the athlete to contribute to the media and be available, it’s due to the resentment that they feel due to the neglect in the years between the Olympics. And they’re unpreparedness to deal with it is because they haven’t had the training. Regardless of how many media courses and whatever kind of speaking courses you take, a microphone in your face is different than anything you’ve ever done and if you don’t have that kind of experience you’re not going to be as prepared to answer those questions and make yourself available because it’s intimidating as hell.
"Now (that interview is) on the web, it comes into your email, on your phone, and it’s everywhere and if you screw up, you look like an idiot. Without that practice in the years between the Olympics, it’s too intimidating and that resentment overrides. That hesitation to be available is what those media people are complaining about."
SN.ca: You were on the cover of almost every newspaper today, on all the newscasts. How does all that attention affect you?
AvK: "I’m a very analytical person. I start thinking about how does that have an impact on the rest of my life. What’s that going to do twenty years from now? Am I peaking too early in my life? (Laughs). I’m only 26. I’m hoping to live 52 years and more probably. I’m having a third-of-the-way life crisis – no I’m not, I’m just kidding."
SN.ca: Because you’re analytical, do you find it hard to enjoy the moments?
AvK: "No, not at all. But I do need to sometimes just live in the now, and start thinking about the past or the future so much. I do sometimes have to focus on what’s going on right now because maybe I’m a bit of a dreamer.
"But I’m not the only one. (Laughs)"
