Post by Taxigirl on Aug 20, 2004 10:14:53 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/canoeing/3579228.stm
British canoeists Nick Smith and Stuart Bowman are out of the men's C2 doubles in Athens.
Smith and Bowman finished ninth in their semi-final on 114.02 after hitting two gates on their first run.
Slovakian twins Pavol and Peter Hochschorner, the reigning world champions, finished top with 101.29 after an error free run.
Campbell Walsh, who recorded the second-fastest time in qualifying, goes later in the men's K1 class final.
Stratford-born Smith and Londoner Bowman, who narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in Sydney in 2000, were bitterly disappointed with their performance.
"I'm just totally devastated really because I knew I was going in chasing a medal," said Smith.
"We were both so confident about winning a medal if not a gold one - underachievement is the word.
"We must be two of the top paddlers in the world but we've struggled to put it on the podium at times and I don't know why. We'll have to look at that."
Bowman added: "We were both really in a good frame of mind and got off to a good start and then just made a couple of mistakes and on this course it follows you down.
"We got off-line around gate nine and 10 and really didn't recover until gate 15 or 16.
"What topped it off was the move to the finish when I was a bit late with my left hand turn which cost us time and another penalty.
"I'm as disappointed as I've ever been. At the last Olympics we thought we could win a medal but we were outsiders. This year we felt we were in there, a very good chance of a medal.
"We've missed our chance now, it's all over and that hurts."
British canoeists Nick Smith and Stuart Bowman are out of the men's C2 doubles in Athens.
Smith and Bowman finished ninth in their semi-final on 114.02 after hitting two gates on their first run.
Slovakian twins Pavol and Peter Hochschorner, the reigning world champions, finished top with 101.29 after an error free run.
Campbell Walsh, who recorded the second-fastest time in qualifying, goes later in the men's K1 class final.
Stratford-born Smith and Londoner Bowman, who narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in Sydney in 2000, were bitterly disappointed with their performance.
"I'm just totally devastated really because I knew I was going in chasing a medal," said Smith.
"We were both so confident about winning a medal if not a gold one - underachievement is the word.
"We must be two of the top paddlers in the world but we've struggled to put it on the podium at times and I don't know why. We'll have to look at that."
Bowman added: "We were both really in a good frame of mind and got off to a good start and then just made a couple of mistakes and on this course it follows you down.
"We got off-line around gate nine and 10 and really didn't recover until gate 15 or 16.
"What topped it off was the move to the finish when I was a bit late with my left hand turn which cost us time and another penalty.
"I'm as disappointed as I've ever been. At the last Olympics we thought we could win a medal but we were outsiders. This year we felt we were in there, a very good chance of a medal.
"We've missed our chance now, it's all over and that hurts."