NZL Press Release Number One

New Zealand Canoe Slalom team chases Olympic dreams

After plane delays and some athletes facing cancelled flights with airline strikes, the New Zealand canoe slalom team have finally all made it to the city of Foz do Iguacu in Brazil. The venue for the 2007 Canoe Slalom World Champs is the artificial course on the Parana River that was not only built for the slalom community but also to aid fish migration when the world's largest hydroelectric works, the Itaipu Dam,was built. The area is famous for the Iguassu Falls that are on the border of Argentina and Brazil and rival the Victoria and Niagara Falls for sheer magnificence.
The climate is tropical, with all the gorgeous fruits and the heat and humidity that goes with this environment. The team of eight are training daily in their allocated one hour time slot with English coach, Andy Raspin.
There are 66 countries competing, made up of 102 K1M, 65 K1W, 66 C1M and 39 C2 crews. From this event 60% of the places will be known for the Beijing Olympics so the competition will be intense.
Nation training continues until racing starts on the 19th September.
The official site for information and results from the event www.cbca.org.br/foz2007/english/index.php

Further contact and photos in Brazil - Sue Clarke White Water Slalom NZ Communications sueclarke@xtra.co.nz

The NZ athletes competing to qualify a place for the Beijing Olympics are:
Michael Dawson K1 Tauranga Living in Rotorua Studying Extramurally Massey University
Aaron Osborne K1 Napier Studying Unicol Palmerston North
Johann Roozenburg K1 Rotorua Employed Sealed Air, Rotorua
James Dawson C1 Tauranga Studying at Otago University Dunedin
Mark Yungnickel C1 Auckland Living in Rotorua, Studying Extramurally at Massey University
Andrew Robinson C2 Tauranga Studying at Otago University Dunedin
Bryden Nicholas C2 Tauranga Studying at Otago University Dunedin
Tania Perrett K1 Nelson Living in Rotorua, Studying at Massey University Extramurally

Coach Andrew Raspin Nottingham, UK
Manager Alison Perrett, Nelson.

Slalom racing is one of two Olympic canoeing disciplines. Racing takes place in singles (K1) and canoe in singles and doubles (C1 & C2 ). The first wild water slalom competitions were held in Switzerland in 1933.In slalom competitions each athlete completes two runs of the course on a route with 20 gates suspended over the river. The competitions are against the clock and the result of each round is obtained by adding the time taken in seconds, and adding the penalties awarded at each gate by a judge.The sum of the two rounds is what counts for the final result.The International Canoeing Federation has a long tradition of slalom competitions. They formed part of the programme of the Olympic Games held in Augsburg (Munich, Germany, 1972), La Seu d''Urgell (Barcelona, Spain, 1992), Ocoee (Atlanta, USA, 1996),Penrith (Sydney, AUS, 2000),Athens 2004 and will be included in 2008 Beijing China and 2112 London England.
World Championships have been held since 1949.
At the present time there are canoeing federations in 142 countries, including all the major industrialized nations, with France, Germany, Britain, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Italy and Slovakia leading the way in Europe, and USA, Canada and Australia in the other continents.