Posted on Fri, Apr. 25, 2008

U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS IN CHARLOTTE

Olympic hopeful pursuing perfection

Vanha immerses herself in Olympic dream

SCOTT FOWLER

Staff Photographer

04/17/08 Zuzana Vanha, a 2008 Olympic Hopeful and member of the US National Canoe/Kayak Slalom Team, takes a break from her endurance training in the Catawba River behind the National Whitewater Center. Vanha moved to Charlotte specifically to train at the center and is one of five US females competing for one spot in the women's kayaking event. DANA ROMANOFF - dromanoff@charlotteobserver.com

Zuzana Vanha sits on a wall and gazes out at the water, talking about the Olympics. Her words come fast, like the chaotic waves at the U.S. National Whitewater Center where she spends almost all of her time.

"I've wanted to go to the Olympics since I was little," she says. "I started as a swimmer, but I was so bad at that I switched to kayaking. I just think it's really important to dedicate yourself to something. A goal. A destination. Something. Otherwise, you're just drifting through life."

No one will accuse Vanha -- or any of her primary competitors -- of drifting through life.

Whitewater kayaking is an extremely physical sport, and the women who excel in it all look like you'd need to use a microscope to find a gram of fat on their bodies. Starting today at the U.S. Olympic team trials in Charlotte, Vanha will try to outperform her four primary competitors to get a leg up on the only Olympic spot open to American women in the sport this year.

Vanha, 24, is a thoughtful young woman who has streamlined her life. She mostly is either training in the water, working at the whitewater center's restaurant or taking care of her dog, Billie Sweetheart. The dog usually accompanies her to practice, waiting patiently until she finishes.

"I'm kind of lonely here sometimes," Vanha says, "and Billie Sweetheart helps with that. Also, athletes have a tendency to be really selfish, especially in individual sports like this one. I needed something else to take care of so I wasn't always just looking out for myself."

Vanha was born in Czechoslovakia, where her father was a renowned paddler. She and her family left the country when she was 5, however, and she was mostly raised in Colorado.

Vanha moved to Charlotte about two years ago when the whitewater center opened. In the fall, she hopes to go to Belmont Abbey and finish her college degree. For now, she is drawn every day by the water and its promise of occasional perfection.

"It feels amazing when you're kayaking and it's all going right," Vanha says. "You don't get tired. Things seem more real. And although you're in the moment, it's almost like you're above it, too, and all of it is happening to someone else."

Vanha's road to Beijing got bumpier recently. Heather Corrie competed in kayaking for years for England, becoming one of the country's top female paddlers. But Corrie's mother was American, she held dual nationality and she decided she wanted to start competing for the U.S. instead in late 2006. After a protracted set of meetings, it was decided Corrie would be able to do just that.

Corrie, 36, now might end up earning the lone Olympic spot that would otherwise likely have gone either to Vanha, 18-year-old Ashley Nee, 16-year-old Caroline Queen or Jamie Tidmore.

There is both a generation and a cultural gap between Corrie and the other four.

"You never know what people really think," Corrie says, "but the others have made me feel at home. I wish more than one of us could go to the Olympics. It's a downfall of the current system that you only get one spot per nation."

The kayaks the women paddle weigh about 20 pounds and look like covered surfboards. The women's goal is to get down the whitewater center's competition channel the fastest while also navigating through 18 to 25 numbered gates without touching them. The winner this weekend won't know for sure she has made the U.S. Olympic team, for another key race awaits after this one. But most likely, the Charlotte competition will decide the berth.

"You want to win this race," Corrie says, "because that's by far the easier way to get to the Olympics."

Says Vanha, still looking at the water that will befriend her or dash her Olympic dream this weekend: "The winner will be the one who recovers best from her mistakes."