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August 25, 2004 9:08 am

Kayak team fails to advance

By MARIBEL VILLALVA

Gannett News Service

SCHINIAS, Greece - The hopes for a set of Olympic medals ended Wednesday for the two-man kayak team of Andrew Bussey and Jeffrey Smoke, who competed in the semifinal round of the K-2 1,000 meter flatwater race at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

The two did not advance to the finals, finishing seventh out of eight boats in their heat with a time of 3:16.34.

Bussey, 25, and Smoke, 26, improved their best race time by three seconds with their run at the Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoe Center.

``We had a much better time today than we did Monday,'' Smoke said. ``Maybe we didn't make the finals, but we beat our best time and that's great.''

Teams from Belgium, Italy and Hungary will be in the finals.

Bussey and Smoke teamed up more than six weeks ago to begin training in the K-2 category and the 2004 Olympics is only their second competition together. The pair competed in the World Cup in Germany this past June and placed ninth overall.

Bussey, a 1997 graduate of Punahou High School in Honolulu, said he'd like to continue paddling with Smoke to train for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

``I think we're a good combination together and when we get to Beijing, we will be one of the top boats in the world,'' Bussey said.

Smoke, a native of Buchanan, Mich., agreed.

``We need to start thinking about the next four years. We know where we stand now,'' he said.

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