Ryan Dolan watched his first Olympics at 6. He and brother Patrick were glued to the 1996 Games. They transformed their Kailua home into a mini-Olympiad, minus the politics.
"We used to mimic every single thing, every event we could do," Ryan recalled. "We have a pool, so we’d swim. We even set up tennis stuff in the front yard. We’d do everything. He would always beat me because he was older. I remember that was so fun."
Reality has been a bit different. Enlightening and often enjoyable, it has also had its frustrations and incomprehensible decisions from folks supposedly in charge of bringing out the best in American athletes. Ryan Dolan has managed to paddle above it all. He still holds his Olympic dream in his own hands, with one last shot at this Summer Games this weekend.
Dolan was introduced to outrigger canoe paddling at 10 and picked up kayaking his senior season at Maryknoll. His astonishing rise to become one of the world’s best paddlers has him on the Olympic bubble for London.
"For somebody who has only been paddling a short time he’s done some amazing things so far," said his coach, Guy Wilding. "There is so much more in front of him, so much improvement left in him. And still, even now at this early stage, he is very competitive on the world stage."
Dolan qualified the U.S. men for their only Olympic boat by winning bronze in the 200 meters at last year’s Pan Am Games. To be in that boat in London, Dolan needed to win the 200 at last month’s U.S. Trials.
In a race so close pretty much everyone Dolan knew thought he had won, including the announcer, Tim Hornsby beat him by eight-hundredths of a second (37.97 to 38.05).
"When I crossed the line I didn’t even know who won," Dolan said. "I felt him coming up and he had a great race. I’d lived with him in 2009 at the training center. We trained against each other, so I knew it would be close. We’ve gone back and forth. He got me that day. Good for him."
Now it comes down to this weekend’s World Cup in Poland, which is the European Olympic qualifier. The American with the highest finish gets the Olympic boat.
Heats and semifinals are Saturday afternoon, with finals Sunday morning (Poland is 12 hours ahead of Hawaii). The top six in each semifinal advance to finals. Dolan and Hornsby might never see each other, but the best finisher wins, provided he makes a final.
Heading to Poland, he was upbeat and in good spirits.
"For me, once I’m in World Cups and on the (U.S.) team I feel a little less tense," Dolan said. "Now, I have this big built-up race. The way I’m looking at it is, ‘Yes, I have to beat him.’ But at the same time it’s really just how I perform and how fast I can go. …If I race well I’m pretty confident I’ll be close to doing what I need to do. Know what I mean?"
He is much more focused than those at USA Canoe/Kayak entrusted with watching over sprint kayaking, a sport that had at least one Olympian from Hawaii from 1988 through 2004.
Wilding moved his life from Australia to the U.S. to train men’s sprint kayakers two years ago. He was asked for a long-term commitment and he requested the men’s training center be moved to Hawaii, a "natural nursery for paddle sports in the United States." Five months after he got here, all funding for the senior national sprint program was cut.
Wilding now calls his move to the U.S. "the worst decision I have ever made as a professional coach. The only saving grace is that we have been in Hawaii and there are plenty of nice people here."
Not quite all. In the past week, thieves have come to the Ala Wai — twice — and stolen large sections of stainless steel from the new electronic start system imported from Italy specifically to train Dolan for race starts in Europe. The system is now useless and the team’s only hope is that the thieves return the useless pieces.
Many others from Hawaii rallied to support the paddlers here and keep Wilding and wife Shelley, now head coach of the Hawaii Canoe & Kayak Team.
"It’s been a little frustrating," Dolan understated, "but this year my main goal with that kind of stuff is, just control the things you can control and don’t worry about the things you can’t. I’m not a board member, not a coach; that’s not my job. My job is to paddle and do the best I can do, so I try not to worry about that stuff. They have their own reasons for making those decisions. Sometimes I don’t agree, but it is what it is."
Dolan has tried to tweak his short-term training to prepare for Poland. He is working more on the final 20 meters, on technique and breathing so he can pull every ounce of energy in the end. He has worked months now for a race where you are "making up minimal amounts of seconds with huge amounts of training."
His fate will be decided in Poland, at least for now. Dolan is still very young.
"I’ve met some really good friends, met so many good people, traveled to some places I would never have been able to travel to before," Dolan said. "I’ve learned a lot about myself, a lot about life. How things aren’t always going to go the way you want them to go but somehow if you persevere things will work out."
