To Europe and back
DeAnne Hemmens

May 25-26
Today we left for Budapest, Hungary. The flights were full and, as always, the jet lag set in. We had about a two-hour bus ride from Budapest to Szeged, where we are racing. The hotel is simple, but comfortable. We have two per room with a television, shower, and toilet.

I find myself at a loss for speech as I do not know even one Hungarian word. So eating is a matter of pointing and nodding.

The food, so far, seems typical of Europe: heavy meats, potatoes, Coca-Cola, and Fanta. Tonight after dinner I walked into town and got many stares, like that of an alien. Do we really look that American? I suppose the big USA on my shirt was the first giveaway.

The Hungarians seem very content. Everyone looked as if they knew each other and people were out and about like it was a busy summer evening. Lots of street vendors and happy people.

Tomorrow we start training on the course, hopefully after a good night's sleep.

May 28
Yesterday was our first full day here. The jet lag kept me from sleeping well so I was up early running through the city park. It was quiet and quite charming. Breakfast consisted of hard rolls and lots of different meats and cheeses, cereal, and tea. The coffee wasn't really like coffee--more like hazelnut, malted brown liquid--so tea was the beverage of choice.

After breakfast we left for the course. It's about 15 minutes away. We prepared the boats and got started on a K4 workout, mostly an easy technical paddle with a few pick-ups and some familiarization with the area.

Lunch was again a mystery meat, then a needed nap. As always with jet lag, the best sleeps are in the middle of the day.

Our afternoon session was some broken 500s in the K2. We are very tired and the afternoon paddle was especially difficult. Trying to wake up.

After dinner we went for a long walk, again around the city park, then two hours of reading and a welcome sleep. And a good one, too--almost seven hours straight.

I awoke early, around 4:45 a.m., so I went for another walk, this time with the intention of finding some coffee. No luck--not much open and obviously this is not a coffee-drinking country like the United States, especially California. I didn't see one Styrofoam cup of the stuff.

The first workout today was a race speed session in the K2. We managed well with a stroke rate in the low 120s until the last couple of pieces when Lia started to hurt, mostly because of jet lag. She slept less than I did and was feeling the fatigue.

Our second workout was great. Even with enormous waves and gusty winds, we were able to move the K2 with greater efficiency than this morning. All in all, a good day. And I even found a cup of coffee!

May 29
An icky weather day--not a terrific paddle in the K4 but some good pieces near the finish.

After lunch we went to weights. That was a refreshing change of pace and always challenging figuring out kilos vs. pounds. We had a light paddle in the cold and wind after weights. Now time to rest. The jet lag is still bad. Last night was a rough one. I only slept a few hours. I'm sure tonight will be better.

May 30
Lia and I slept 10 hours last night--thank goodness! We awoke to beautiful sunshine and warmer temperatures. We had our final preparation in the K4 as the racing starts tomorrow. I'm not nervous really, just eager to see where we are in relation to the best in the world. This is a very big regatta and many teams will have double and triple entries so they can decide on their Olympic entry.

Our afternoon is off, so we will spend more time on our race plan and on getting some good rest.

June 3
Today we are traveling from Budapest to Poznan, Poland. The weekend was very busy with lots of racing. As it turns out, we did not have a very good regatta as a team. Several of the men's team members were sick and only raced a heat before calling it a day.

We had the K4 on Friday and in the final we managed to come in sixth. It was a good race for us and a good place to start to improve. We beat a good boat, so we were encouraged by that.

The next day we had the K2. The heat was difficult as we tried to win because the top two went straight to the finals. We ended up third, but were discouraged that we had to go to the semifinal.

The semifinal should have been easy for us to win, but we never had the boat run and at about halfway it felt like an anchor had been dropped off the back of the boat. We finished fourth and not in the final. This was particulary upsetting because we should be racing for medals in finals, not scratching to get in the finals. So, it was a learning experience I'd soon like to forget. Only one other American boat made finals in the two days of racing.

Sunday was the zoom races. This is not an Olympic event, but I'm sure in the future it will be. It is a lot more exciting and the finishes are close as everyone is paddling furiously to be the first.

Lia and I had a much better semifinal. The shorter the race, the better Lia does. We raced a very explosive final and ended up fourth. Not bad. A couple hours later was the K4 200. What a terrible race. We never really got together off the start and we finished second to last. A good day for me and Lia, and others who managed to make finals. Our fourth-place finish was the highest of the regatta but not what we'd hope for.

This next week will bring a lot of training and hopefully a better regatta in Poznan!

Poland: What a great race course. The World Championships were held here in 1990. The weather had been cold, but for the races it warmed up and was very hot.

The coaches decided to switch my K2 partner for this race from Lia to Alexandra Harbold.

This regatta has fewer countries entered so we have all straight finals. The K2 race was good and we ended up second behind Poland. The K4 was also good and we battled it out with Poland for a very close second. Sunday we had the 200s again and two more second places.

I am anxious to get home and start the final preparation for Atlanta. We have a week of active rest and then June 17 we hit it hard again.

The selection committee will make a decision on my K2 partner--then the entries will be set and that will be final.

Not long now and we march through the Olympic stadium.