In all, some 50 athletes from across the country came to Oakland to compete for the chance to represent the United States in this year's Olympics in Athens, Greece.

In addition to the competitors, the four-day event also drew U.S. Flatwater Canoe and Kayak officials, canoe and kayak enthusiasts and, for sure, more than a few curious onlookers.

What they witnessed were some fine athletic performances by some outstanding, well-conditioned -- though relatively obscure -- athletes.

Most competitions save the best for last. But those who came to Lake Merritt on Thursday witnessed two events of -- well, Olympian -- proportions: the men's and women's 500-meter single kayak races.

The women's event provided perhaps the biggest upset of the weekend as 20-year-old Carrie Johnson secured her ticket to Athens over two-time Olympian Ruth Nortje.

Nortje, 37, represented her native South Africa in the event at both the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and was a heavy favorite to qualify again. Nortje became a United States citizen in 2001.

The men's event provided another interesting story as well as a local angle among the competitors.

Rami Zur, 27, had been born in Berkeley and raised in Israel. He now trains at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. Zur won his race in 1 minute, 46.16 seconds.

Unlike most timed sports, canoes and kayaks have no world records, per se, as wind and water conditions vary from venue to venue, from day to day.

Saturday, for instance, was most windy. Zur, however, battled through the wind and ripples to win a second event, the single kayak 1,000 meters.

"We have a really good group of competitors over here," said Zur, answering questions from the event announcer. "It's really very stressful. You have one shot to get the Olympics, and that's here at Lake Merritt."

Zur prepares for a race long in advance by visualizing its outcome.

"On the starting line, the race has been run in my mind many times before," he said.

For the most part, the term "Olympic qualifiers" is a bit misleading. Johnson and Zur have earned the right to represent the United States in the women's and men's single kayak 500 meters at Athens. For other events, though, the winners will have to win a second time at the Continental Olympic Qualifier for the Americas in Curitiba, Brazil, April 29-May 2.

For the uninitiated, the Olympic qualifying process gets a bit abstruse. The winning boats at Lake Merritt qualified to represent the United States at Curitiba. Once in Brazil, however, the winning athletes at Lake Merritt might not necessarily compete in that qualifier.

It's kind of like qualifying a car to race in the Indianapolis 500, then placing a driver in that car.

The exceptions, of course, were kayak single 500s, as the United States already had qualified to place a boat in the Olympics by virtue of fourth-place finishes by both Zur and Nortje in last year's world championships.

Confused? Well, so were a lot of laypersons who came to the event.

Nonetheless, this year's U.S. Flatwater Canoe and Kayak Olympic Trials provided area residents a rare chance to see some high-level competition in an Olympic sport. A trip to Lake Merritt for at least one of the four days was well worth the effort.

Jordan Malloch of Seattle qualified boats for Continental competition in the men's single canoe 500 and 1,000 meters.

Curitiba, considered one of the world's most ecology-conscious cities, is the capital of Brazil's Paraná state, located in the southeastern part of the country.

The opening ceremonies for this year's Olympics will take place Aug. 13. Canoe and kayak events will run Aug. 23-28, with the closing ceremonies on Aug. 29.

Contra Costa Times
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