Gold hopes for waterboys

Stuart McIntosh practising at Penrith

By Paul Cohen, Sydney

About 30 miles away from the intensity of Olympic Park are the serene suroundings of Penrith Lakes.

Here Steve Redgrave will aim at sporting immortality but the waters at this outlying Olympic venue may yield more than rowing gold.

A man-made whitewater course has been built for the canoeing slaloms and there will be at least two genuine British medal chances with world K1 number one Paul Ratcliffe and world number four C1 Stuart McIntosh in action.

For the uninitiated K1 refers to the kayak singles where competitors use a two-bladed paddle from a sitting position while in the C1, canoeists kneel and use a one-bladed paddle.

Confident

Ratcliffe and McIntosh are both confident in their own way.

Paul Ratcliffe: Gold hope

But while Ratcliffe, a keen football fan, insists he will take each stage as it comes, McIntosh is in bullish mood.

He has every reason to think the world is smiling on him at the moment.

A few years back he was holding down a bar job and running up a huge debt as he dedicated his energies to competing around Europe and climbing high enough up the world rankings to earn lottery funding.

He is now fourth in the world, lives with his Australian girlfriend in the Blue Mountains, which is a short paddle from Penrith, and is about to compete in his first Olympics in the best form of his life. Not bad for a 25-year-old lad from Watford.

"This is pretty much my home course and I am paddling better than I ever have," he said. "If I paddle 90 per cent of what I am capable of I will finish in the top five."

Medals

And, McIntosh adds, a top five finish could become a gold medal place if all goes well on the day.

"There are so many things that can affect you that it is really down to the day and who copes best with the pressures," he said.

"It is a mental thing as there is not a lot of difference between us physically. Everyone knows the course and everyone can do it awesomely."

Unlike McIntosh, Ratcliffe admits to a few nerves but he has form on his side having won the World Cup for the last three years and is the one to beat in his event.

This is Ratcliffe's second Olympics and he aims to make up for the disappointment of Atlanta - a late penalty droped him from fourth to 14th - but dismisses medal talk.

"I think everyone knows what I am aiming for but I have to concentrate on one job at at at time," said the 26-year-old from Manchester.

"It is going to be a close race. It is a site that makes for close fast racing margins and a tenth of a second is going to decide it. In the last World Cup the top six were within a second."

Whatever happens both are keen to enjoy their experience and come the end of the Games, McIntosh will stay on to live and train in Australia.

"There's no wind, no rain, no having to break the ice in the morning," he said before adding his favourite words. "It's awesome."