Some of you may have already seen this, but two local paddlers are representing the US in the Beijing Olympics in C2 slalom. The paddlers are Rick Powell and Casey Eichfeld. Rick grew up in Parkesburg and Casey up near the Nescopek. Rick and Casey are now living near Charlotte, NC.
WTC paddlers who have tried slalom in the past may remember Rick & Casey from some of the Penn Cup races. Both of them started racing at about age 5 or 6. They've been seriously paddling C2 together for 2+ years. They've been on the US for slalom in 2007 and 2008. This year, each country can have at most one boat in each of the slalom disciplines, so that really limits the field. I believe that slalom is being contested on Tue-Thu of this coming week. Who knows how much they're televise. If you want to get up at 3 am, you can watch the slalom live on NBC's site - streaming video. For more info, see NBC's site for the Olympics: http://www.nbcolympics.com
There is some video on YouTube of the slalom course in Beijing - looks mightly challenging. (Go to YouTube and search on Beijing - slalom - kayak)
John