Lachie Milne
Representing Australia in the slalom canoe event
Hi Aussie supporters
Did anyone see me at the opening ceremony? The opening ceremony was fantastic. After the march I went around the infield and introduced myself to people and met people from many exotic countries like Jamaica, Moldova, Nigeria, Bahamas, Ivory Coast and Iraq. It was so much fun being grouped together in a huge arena with so many other athletes, all sharing the same spirit. I am looking forward to the closing ceremony.
There are a lot of Aussies supporting us. We have the biggest team here apart from the Greeks, so there is an enormous amount of support from other team members as well. When walking around the village, the other Australians say G'day which is really encouraging and fantastic for team building.
It has been hot here since we arrived. It is around 30 degrees or more every day so we have to drink a lot to keep hydrated. Some days we have to drink around 5 litres of water to have enough. Being dehydrated definitely hinders performance so it is important to drink a lot. We are kept a little cooler than many other sports because we are in a water sport and we get splashed a lot when we are competing. Sometimes we get fully submerged in the water and have to do an Eskimo roll. This is when we have to turn the canoe back up the right way while still sitting inside the canoe. We don't like when this happens, not because the water is cold, but because it slows us down.
There are plenty of things to do around the Olympic village. Between our events we can go to other events, or go to one of the many places in the village like the dining hall, computer centre, arcade hall, Australian Village Green or just hang out in our house with out team mates.
The dining hall is amazing. There is an endless supply of food, of all types, and it is free. There is everything from breakfast cereals to salads, to Mousaka, curry or pizza. You can eat as much as you want and the dining halls are open 24 hours, so you can go anytime. There are vending machines all around the village that give you free drinks whenever you want them.
I don't have to worry too much about what I eat before my event. As long as it is healthy and tastes good. We don't have to be too worried about weight, but lots of people go a bit overboard and eat too much. They have to be careful though, because you don't want your performance to suffer.
It takes about 30 minutes on the bus from the Olympic Village to our canoe slalom venue. There are special traffic lanes where only the Olympic traffic can go so we can cut through all of the traffic jams when the other cars have stopped!
The most important thing in getting me to where I am today I believe is my love of the sport. With out that, every training session would be a chore rather than a pleasure. I loved my sport from the moment I tried it. Canoe slalom is addictive and it is always great to train because we have great fun when we go out. It was easy to train because I liked it so much. This helped a lot in increasing the rate of improvement. It was only a year until I was competing internationally for Australia.
Thank you for all your support!
Lachie
