Ratcliffe's dreams submerged

Paul Ratcliffe: Has come a long way since 1996

By BBC Sport's Paul Cohen

Four years ago, in his first Olympics, a late mistake dropped Paul Ratcliffe down from fourth to 14th place in the K1 slalom final and he was crestfallen.

A relative newcomer to the big stage at that time and just out of university it was evident Ratcliffe had set himself high standards.

Since Atlanta Ratcliffe's ambitions have known no bounds and he came to Sydney as the world number one intending only to return with the gold medal.

It was not to be. On the day the German Thomas Schmidt was the man inspired and Ratcliffe had to settle for silver.

Capsize

Ratcliffe can look back and regret two penalties he incurred and his capsizing at the end of his first run but the 6.46 second margin between him and Schmidt suggests even two clean rounds may not have been enough.

The 26-year-old Mancunian seemed to have accpeted that fact as he emerged after the medal ceremony waving the Union flag with a big smile on his face.

Two penalties cost Ratcliffe

"My first reaction was `I'm gutted' because I came here to win gold," he said.

"I was capable of it but I did not have the best of first rounds. I took a touch early on and I had a lot to do after that."

He had even more to do after his kayak 'took an edge' and turned over in sight of the line but a great second run turned a halfway third place into a silver medal as he overhauled the Italian Pierpaolo Ferrazzi.

"I just ran out of steam at the bottom and fell in, but to capsize on that run and still move from bronze to silver has got to be okay," he added.

Ratcliffe insisted he never gave up on a gold medal even with the German well up after the first run. "I was still aiming for gold. You can't afford to let it slip because the same could have happened to Thomas that happened to me on his second run."

I just ran out of steam at the bottom and fell in

  Paul Ratcliffe

Thomas did not slip though and Ratcliffe could only look on in admiration as the German tore through the obstacles for a second time.

Admiration

"I totally admire what he achieved. It was a brilliant performance and well deserving of gold," he said.

Also missing out at the Penrith whitewater course were the British canoe slalom pair of Stuart Bowman and Nick Smith who were just 0.48seconds off a bronze medal in a race comfortably won by the Slovakian twins Pavol and Peter Hochschorner.

"It was close and it's disappointing," said Bowman. "We watched the medals being handed out and we would have loved to have been up there.

"When you are so close to a medal it hurt but it has given us a determination and we are encouraged by the way we performed."