2-man kayakers down but not out

By MARIBEL VILLALVA

Gannett News Service

SCHINIAS, Greece - A seventh-place finish for kayakers Andrew Bussey and Jeffrey Smoke in the preliminary two-man kayak flatwater 1,000-meter competition Monday means the two will advance to Wednesday's semifinals.

But Bussey said their debut performance at the 2004 Summer Olympics left much to be desired.

``We had a hard time getting out of the blocks. The wind was blowing us around, and we never hit the peak speed,'' said Bussey, a 1997 graduate of Punahou High School in Honolulu.

The city of Athens woke up Monday to strong gusts. Event officials estimated the wind gusts to be only at 11.4 mph at the Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoe Center.

The top three finishers in the heat automatically advanced to the finals. They were Markus Oscarsson and Henrik Nilsson of Sweden, Ben Foughy and Steven Ferguson of New Zealand and Daniel Collins and David Rhodes of Australia.

Positions four through seven moved to the semifinals.

In the second heat, the teams from Norway, Great Britain and Germany advanced to the finals. Going to the semifinals will be teams from Belgium, Denmark, Serbia/Montenegro and China.

Bussey, 25, and Smoke, 26, have been together for only six weeks, with Monday's preliminary race being only their second race as a team, Smoke said. This is the first Olympics for both.

Smoke, of Buchanan, Mich., said the two are a good match.

``We both have similar strengths. We're both endurance-oriented,'' he said.

``They are the future of kayaking because they're younger,'' said David Yarborough, executive director of the U.S. Association of Canoe/Kayak. ``I have high hopes for them down the road. I see their success happening over the next two years and in Beijing.''