Paddles Up!
Posted on January 25, 2013 by Steve
John Wood has died.
I was four years old when John Wood stood on the podium at
the Montreal Olympics and accepted his silver medal for the C-1 500m. I
did not watch the race, I do not remember the race. In fact, I don’t
recall ever seeing John Wood race a canoe. However, he is a legend in our
sport and he was an inspiration to me at every stage of my athletic career.
When I was 8 or 9 years old I was introduced to canoeing
through this video. Watch it.
This video influenced my entire outlook on sport. The
words that I tried to live by my whole life were the first words I heard John
speak:
“The thing that I like most about paddling in a race is
winning…but that’s not necessarily what I enjoyed most about paddling”
Throughout my early racing career there were lots of role
models and heroes for me to follow. Larry Cain, came to Orenda in 1984
and inspired us with his medals from Los Angeles. Tony Hall inspired us
as young athletes to strive to be the best. Renn Crichlow showed me
that Canadians can indeed be the best in the world in canoe (or kayak).
But through it all was the legend of John Wood. He who had almost
beaten the mighty Eastern Bloc, who had come within inches of claiming Gold for
Canada at home. I had never met him, never seen him race and so he was
even more of a legend than all of the others.
The first time I actually saw John Wood he was standing with
Larry Cain on the top of the hill at Rideau. I was 13 or 14 and I
remember thinking how cool it was that two Olympic medalists were standing
there together. I wouldn’t get a chance to meet John for almost two
decades, and only briefly at a barbecue in Florida. I had a medal of my
own, but was still in awe of John and I could not bring myself to tell him what
an inspiration he had been for me.
Another decade went by before I met John again. It was
last summer at a special gathering to send off our team to London. I did
tell him then what an inspiration he had been to me, and how I still watched him
in Paddles Up! and I still got goose bumps.
I heard him speak of his race
that day, and was again inspired. He was still passionate about the
sport, seemed to really enjoy sharing that passion with today’s crop of elite
canoers. I took a souvenir that day that I will always cherish:
John Wood, Larry Cain, Steve Giles
I wish that I had known John better. I am sure that he
was a special man. I am also sure that there was much more to him than an
Olympic silver medal. But to me he will always be the legend, and in the
sport of canoeing he will be missed.
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