Everything's better with Butter

U.S. Olympic Team member Eric 'Butter' Hurd poses in his paddling gear at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte on Tuesday June 26, 2012. Hurd and his teammate Jeff Larimer will be competing in the tandem canoe slalom event in London this week.

I have the unique privilege this year of pulling for one of my friends, Eric "Butter" Hurd, who is competing with teammate Jeff Larimer in tandem canoe slalom at the London Olympics this week. 

I took the photos above a few weeks ago before he left for London (Jeff lives in Atlanta and wasn't available) and the photo below is from U.S. Team Trials at the whitewater center earlier in the summer. 

U.S. Olympic athletes don't get much support, unless they play basketball or they're an attractive female. That sounds rough, but it's essentially true. It doesn't help that in North America NBC has a monopoly on using the Olympic Games to fill space between commercials. As long as that practice is allowed to continue, only the popular sports will generate lucrative sponsorships for a few select athletes that make good talking points.

In any event, I'll be pulling for Butter this week, and if you want to show your support he has T-shirts on sale for a small donation with a design based on my photo below. I think they look pretty cool. (Disclaimer: I receive no profit from the sale of the shirt. The screen printing company is taking a chunk, but most of it goes straight to Hurd). 

Here's the link to buy a shirt.

Olympic Team Trials for Whitewater Slalom

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Whitewater Slalom

Scott Mann comes up after rolling his kayak at the finish line on his second of two runs on day two of the men's single kayak division at U.S. National Slalom Team Trials at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte on Saturday April 16, 2011. 

Parsons to make second Olympic appearance

Former Olympian Scott Parsons competes in the Olympic Team Trials for whitewater slalom at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC on April 26, 2008.

Former Olympian Scott Parsons will be going to the games again this year, after securing the sole spot for a male kayaker on the US whitewater slalom Olympic team. Parsons, of Bethesda, Maryland, secured his spot by placing 3rd overall at a world cup event today in Augsburg, Germany.

Parsons faced intense competition for the Olympic spot from 2004 Olympic teammate Brett Heyl, who placed 15th overall, and 2007 national champion Scott Mann, who finished 6th.

Parsons now joins the C2 (tandem canoe) team of Casey Eichfeld and Rick Powell, both from Pennsylvania, as the only athletes in whitewater slalom to have secured a chance to go to Beijing in just over a month.

The Augsburg world cup continues tomorrow with the finals in C1 (men's solo canoe) and K1W (solo women's kayak). The results of these finals will determine who will join Parsons, Powell and Eichfeld in Beijing.

Final Olympic team selection this weekend

Canoeist Tad Dennis locks his sight on the next gate during the third day of the Olympic Team Trials for whitewater slalom at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte on April 27, 2008. Dennis made the US national team despite making costly mistakes that resulted in slow times on the second and third days of the three-day event.

Top US paddlers are all in Augsburg, Germany this weekend with one thing on their agendas--qualifying to go to Beijing in just over a month. The sport of whitewater slalom was one of the first to hold it's Olympic Team Trials this year, but in this sport only one four of the 11 boats that made the national team can go to the Olympic Games.

Whitewater slalom consists of four events; men's solo kayak (K1), women's solo kayak (K1W), men's solo decked canoe (C1), and men's tandem decked canoe (C2). This year women are finally allowed to compete in C1, but the event will not be contested at the Olympics until the 2012 London games.

The Olympic Team Trials for Whitewater Slalom were held April 25-27 at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC and selected the members of the US National team. The 2008 US team, with current points in parentheses, is:

K1
Brett Heyl (30)
Scott Parsons (38)
Scott Mann (28)

K1W
Zuzana Vanha (30)
Heather Corrie (29)
Caroline Queen (28)

C1M
Jeff Larimer (30)
Benn Fraker (29)
Tad Dennis (28)

C2
Austin Crane and Scott McCleskey (30)
Casey Eichfeld and Rick Powell (29)
(Only two teams qualified in C2)

Points are based on the results of three events: the 2007 World Championships in Brazil, the 2008 Olympic Team Trials, and the third World Cup event of 2008, which begins today and continues all weekend in Augsburg, Germany.

Parsons was the only paddler to earn points in Brazil, which gives him a slight lead over the competition. The rest of the paddlers earned points at the team trials, where 30 points went to the winner, 29 to second, 28 to third, and so forth. In Augsburg, 25 points will go to the winner, with the points decreasing in increments of three down to 20th place which receives only one point.

American paddlers will face some tough international competition, but with Olympic dreams at stake the hottest competition will be for those precious points. Of those on the national team, only Parsons and Heyl are former Olympians, both going in 2004 when two people from the US were allowed.

In all categories the competition is extremely close. One mistake on any of the three days in Augsburg could make the difference between dreams coming true and going home to start training for the 2012 games. Wish them luck!


View images of the athletes in action from the Olympic Team Trials here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/photo-commando/sets/72157605359527231/