Summer Olympics 2000 Late switches don't pay off

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Monday, September 25
Late switches don't pay off
Associated Press

PENRITH, Australia -- The Olympics couldn't have started any better for U.S. flagbearer Cliff Meidl. They couldn't have ended any worse.

Meidl and Phillipe Boccara were eliminated from the two-man, 1,000-meter kayak event after finishing last in an opening heat Tuesday. Jordan Malloch, the U.S. entry in the solo 1,000-meter canoe, also was knocked out.

Angel Perez, the former Cuban Olympian who won a legal battle to represent the United States, helped guide his four-man squad into the finals Saturday with a third-place finish in a 1,000-meter heat.

Meidl was picked to lead the U.S. Olympic team into the opening ceremony to honor his amazing recovery from a 30,000-volt electrical jolt that blew off several toes, cracked his skull and burned his back.

After being told he might never walk again, Meidl got into kayaking as part of his rehabilitation and blossomed into one of the nation's best.

He came to Sydney expecting to paddle with John Mooney, but last Thursday coach Jerzy Dziadkowiec put Boccara in the boat. Dziadkowiec also put Meidl in the unfamiliar role of being in the rear.

They were ninth after 250 meters, more than three seconds behind the leader, and never made a move. They finished nearly six seconds out of eighth place and had the slowest time of the 18 entries.

"We put the best race together we could," Meidl said. "Unfortunately, it's one of those trial-and-error things and you have to go with it one way or another."

All things considered, Meidl will go home to Redondo Beach, Calif., a happy man.

"My chances of winning a medal were very difficult," he said. "I would've loved to get to the semis. But the entire experience has been very good for me.

"Because of all the things I went through in the past, getting to this point was pretty tough. And carrying the flag for the U.S. was like winning the gold medal."

Perez defected from Cuba seven years ago, but didn't become a U.S. citizen until last year -- two years fewer than Olympic rules require for people changing nationalities to be eligible for the games.

But, last week, Perez successfully argued to the Court of Arbitration for Sport that he gave up his Cuban citizenship the day he fled and they cleared him to compete.

With Perez anchoring a boat that also included Mooney, Peter Newton and Stein Jorgensen, the United States led the first quarter of its race, settled into third by the midway point and held off the Czech Republic at the finish.

"We used today to release stress," Perez said.

A month ago, Malloch expected to spend Tuesday attending the first day of the fall quarter of business school at the University of Washington. He was about to buy his books when the head of the U.S. canoe-kayak federation called and told him to start packing for Sydney.

The United States had been third on a waiting list for a canoe spot and one finally opened. Malloch got the nod because he won the U.S. Olympic trials earlier this summer.

He finished eighth of nine in his heat, but still could've advanced to the semis if his time was faster than the No. 8 finisher in the other heat. It wasn't even close.

"My goal was to make the Olympics in 2000 and medal in 2004," said Malloch, 22. "I hope to be competing strong internationally long before then."

Birgit Fischer helped lead Germany's women's K-4 squad into the finals with a first-place finish. Fischer, who will be in a K-2 boat Wednesday, is seeking a sixth gold medal to tie Germany's overall Olympic record.

The women's K-2 is among six events that will hold first-round heats Wednesday. The United States is in five of them, including Perez and Newton in the 500-meter K-2.

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