"Fifty years," the Trials race director said, shaking his head. "Fifty years I've been trying to do this sport."

The very fit 63-year-old El Cerrito resident says it because canoeing and kayaking have been his passion since he was a teenager growing up in Budapest, Hungary.

But make no mistake, he can do the sport. He is the sport. If there is anyone in the entire realm of canoeing and kayaking who has been there and done that more than Toro, nobody knows who it is.

Toro has competed for more than six decades, going to the Olympics four times from 1960-76. He teamed up with Imre Farkas to win a bronzemedal in two-man canoeing in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

He still competes, teaming with Ventura's Robert Hahn to win the two-man 1,000-meter canoe title at the Senior National Championships last year. He wrote a book more than two decades ago -- "Canoeing: An Olympic Sport" -- that is still considered the sport's bible.

"It's become a lifetime sport for me," Toro said.

He has been an Olympic coach and was an original member of the Athletes Advisory Council that forced Congress to pass the United States Amateur Sports Act in 1978 to recognize the rights of amateur athletes. He was a secretary on the U.S. Olympic Committee with none other than George Steinbrenner.

Toro views this new wave of young paddlers at Lake Merrit with keen interest as they strive to reach their Olympic goals.

A tear almost came to Toro's eye on Thursday when Berkeley native Rami Zur pushed himself to the limit against a loaded field to win the 500-meter, one-man kayak event and an automatic spot at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in August.

Zur had almost the perfect race -- physically and mentally -- something Toro appreciated completely.

"The 500 is a very hard race to recover from if you make a mistake," he said. "The concentration and the mechanics have to be there. A little inefficiency here and there can cost you everything."

Which is why he's still very old-fashioned when it comes to coaching. When he teaches newcomers to paddle, it's all about hard work and precision ... and more hard work.

Scott Whitney knows first-hand. He's one of the public-relations officials at the Trials who also happens to train competitively under Toro.

"He's up to date on all the techniques and sciences, but as a coach he's very much old-school," Scott said. "When you train with him, it's 'No sniveling here. Don't show up unless you want to hurt.'"

Toro agrees.

"My concept of coaching is you have to prove in training that you can do it in a race," he explained. "If you feel sorry for yourself in training, you'll feel sorry for yourself in a race and ... you'll lose."

Because of that, Toro insists U.S. canoeing and kayaking are lagging behind and not winning any of the 16 gold medals available in the Olympics.

"Maybe I'm selfish," he said. "But if someone said there are 16 medals out there to be won, I'd say 'Wow, that's a lot ... and we didn't get any of them?'

"People throw billions of dollars at basketball, but it's still just one medal," Toro went on. "If people were to throw money into canoeing and kayaking, they'd really get a return."

The Oakland Tribune: Cityside
Leanne McLaughlin, Managing Editor
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