D'Arcy Waldegrave: Sportstalk host on Canoe Racing New Zealand defending their Olympic qualification progress

Canoe Racing New Zealand is defending a pragmatic decision in their Olympic qualification process.

Kayakers Max Brown and Grant Clancy have been forced to compete in the kneel-down canoeing C2 500 - a boat which was qualified so they could compete in the sit-down K4 500 event.

The pair have finished 45 seconds behind the winner of their Paris Games quarter-final, because they didn't want to expend too much energy.

Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Darcy water Grave sports talk hosters with me right now. Hey, Darce,
I'm expecting you to come in hot with your opinions
about why the C two five hundred canoeists was so embarrassing.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Means to an end, that's what it was. It's pretty
It's pretty simple for me that they found an opportunity
to qualify the K four get the rollers there that
they wanted. The rollers knew, the kayakers, knew the canoe
is new when they got there after only three months
of training, they were going to get stone cold marvelous.
They knew that they were under nassy illusion.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
If there wasn't like two meters between us and this
desk guy would lean over and give you a high five.
Right now, you're really yeah, because you know what I
think is going on here. We have got a complex
in this country about needing to overperform, and anytime somebody
does like, it's all like so embarrassing for us. We're
taking this person.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's embarrassed.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
No, no decular.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
There are the guys in the canoe they're probably not
feeling great about it, but they knew. That's not like
they went, oh wow, we're getting flogged by hundreds of
meat did they?

Speaker 1 (01:01):
What a surprise?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
And it was just going a bit of a ghost
like because the later on and that's what you want
to do?

Speaker 1 (01:06):
It even seated in the thing properly?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Were they to me? I looked at it when it
was not ideal, But they knew, they knew how good?

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Hey listen though, aren't there some questions to answer here
about canoeing, like how stink is your sport? If New
Zealand can make it in with two guys who've done
none of the stuff by beating a sixty and a
seventy year old, it.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Wasn't even them that did it, the qualified, but some
other guys. And you know they only won that race
by about three seconds. They didn't even thrash them against
the seventy year old. Yeah. Well, and there was also
a fifty year old thinking there's some one boat? Is
that right? Look, they found a reason, they found a
way to exploit the laws. Maybe that's not the best

(01:46):
word exploitations never a good technicalities. Yeah, and went okay,
you know what, we can do this and we're going
to go that way. It was the K one one
thousand guy who couldn't get through, but trying to get
hold of them to make comment on this that the
powers that be said, look, this is the way we're going.
It's going to be best for us, and you guys
have all got to buy and you've all got to
play the game. I suppose at a higher level you

(02:08):
look at the Olympics and you look at inc and
you look at the Olympic Games full stop, and go, hey,
do you know what happened? This is really your fault
because without the law that you put in place, this
would never have had this. So if anybody's going to
take the slap in the face, it's going to be
the higher authority, not continuities. Are you going to high
five me again?

Speaker 1 (02:27):
No, I'm going to ask you whether they're going to
do any good at the K four.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
The K four just sneaked in, just sneaked in.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
So they came fourth out of fifth in their first heat,
and then they came second in their second, which suggests
they improve their performance a bit. Yeah, but they're in
the B final.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
They sneaked in. Look I don't. I'm not. There's no
faux outrage from me. There's no people lose, people come last,
athing new I mean, you look at we go back
to Eddie the Eagle Edwards, he knew he was going
to get absolutely flogged, but he went there anyway. Erical,
he knew he was going to be an absolute disaster,

(03:03):
but he went there anyway.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Good times.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
You know the Jamaican Bob Slid team, they knew it
was going to be a but they went there and
they had their Olympic experience. And if you look at
the Olympic Games and you look at the people that
run up the rear, the tail enders, they're everywhere there's
someone who's disaster, and they had the Olympic.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
All of the other guys that you've mentioned are guys
who are participating in their chosen sport. These guys are not.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
There's an argument that says that that was their chosen
sport because they qualified. See too, it's not.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
But don't worry about what's coming up.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Over so much good.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Thank you, Darcy, You're wonderful. Darcy will be back this
evening seven o'clock with Sports Talk.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Taking your calls.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to
news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.