Part 1
Samantha Templeton was precocious. From the moment she could walk, she was running. Sports and exercise became her life. But she also became bored with them too.
She started gymnastics, like most young girls at the age of five, but by the age of nine, she found herself limited by the competitions she could enter, although she knew she was better than her peers.
She took up swimming and soccer, and got so good at these too, but wasn't allowed to compete in the older age groups. She soon found the same happening when she took up Judo. She found herself getting bored very quickly when she felt her progression being limited, and so she moved onto something else, at which she excelled just as well, with the same impossible hurdles to jump.
Then came Sam's eureka moment. Now aged fourteen, she was on holiday with her parents over in North Wales, and they decided to try a day kayaking off the coast of Anglesey. To say that Sam took to it like a duck to water would be an understatement. She found the challenge of 'competing' against an ever-changing sea to be a revelation and she loved it.
Back home, her parents found a sea kayaking club nearby and Sam began spending every weekend learning the new skills required just to survive. Then one weekend the club, headed inland to do some river kayaking, which also opened Sam's eyes to even more possibilities and challenges.
Sam's determination and aptitude were quickly noticed within the club, especially by Robert Williamson, one of the club's founder members and also one of its most senior instructors, although he was in his early seventies by this time. After one weekend session Robert approached Sam's parents and asked if they would be willing for him to begin to more formally coach Sam, as he believed she had tremendous potential in the sport.
Sam's parents had heard this before and knew how Sam had consistently become bored with her previous sports and were sure the same would happen now. But they gave Robert the go ahead.
Now every weekend Robert would take Sam away to different rivers across the country and began to hone her skills. Some days he would just take her for a long walk along the side of the river, asking her to describe what she saw the river doing, and what it meant. Others, he would have her paddling up and down the same stretch, time and time again, as she worked out the best route.
Eighteen months later, Robert and Sam headed up to Grandtully in Perthshire for the British Championships, and to everyone's surprise, apart from Robert, Sam came third. Now she came to the attention of the British Canoe Federation and again her life changed.
Now, once a month Sam and Robert would head to Nottingham for a weekend, where Sam would receive additional training from other coaches as well as getting the chance to meet her fellow competitors.
On these occasions Sam and Robert were put up at facilities at the Pierrepont Centre and Sam found herself sharing with Amanda Jenkins, an eighteen-year-old, whom Sam had actually beaten when winning her bronze medal, much to Amanda's horror and annoyance. But, to Amanda's credit, she seemed to put this behind her and welcomed Sam into the Training Group.
Over the next year things continued to go well, and Amanda actually found herself learning from her younger competitor, and the two had many tight races, with both coming out on top. Then, Amanda got herself a new coach, one of the senior instructors and selectors for the BCF and suddenly her attitude appeared to change, she seemed to come more alive.
Steven Stevenson was in his late forties and had been an Olympian twenty-five years earlier, although not terribly successfully. However, he still lived off that glory and had used it to force his way to the heady heights he now occupied. According to Sam, she thought he was a creepy, slimy, fat old git, and she tried to avoid him as much as possible. His new role as Amanda's coach made that a little more difficult.
But Sam continued to excel, and now only seventeen years old she qualified for the European Championships being held just outside Zagreb in Croatia. Here, she really brought herself to the attention of the kayaking fraternity, by again winning another bronze medal. This was the springboard to greater things.
The following year, Sam, who had only just turned eighteen two weeks earlier, won the British Championships, and from this qualified for the Olympics which would be held later in the year.
To say that Sam, her parents, and Robert were delighted, would have been an immense understatement, but it was an opportunity none of them wanted to miss. As soon as her A Levels finished at school Sam moved up to Nottingham, to the Pierrepont facility, so that she could train full-time under the tutelage of Steven and the other kayak coaches. Amanda was also living at the facilities almost full time as she too had managed to get herself on the Olympic squad.
Sam found herself becoming settled very quickly, and was delighted that Amanda seemed to have got over Sam beating her in the Nationals, she seemed to be making a big attempt to make friends with Sam. Sam also noticed something strange with Amanda's interaction with Steven, although being still quite young and naive she didn't really understand what the little looks and smiles between them meant.
A couple weeks later Sam saw something else that confused her a little. One afternoon coming back from a tough training session, she saw a rather hot and puffing Steven leave Amanda's Dorm room. Sam then noticed this on a few other occasions, a red and sweaty Steven leaving from Amanda's room, and on top of that Amanda seemed to be full of the joys of Spring. Sam was intrigued.
About a month before the Team were to fly out to the Holding Camp and Training Facilities that Team GB would use prior to the Olympics, they had a large Media event, where the team outfits would also be paraded for the first time. Sam was over the moon to be selected as one of the athletes that would be photographed in the new kit.
However, when she went to the locker room to change into the new dry top and leggings she had a little bit of a problem. The leggings fitted fine, but the dry top was a little bit on the tight size, and she had to struggle a bit to get it over her head and shoulders. But eventually she was in and actually found it fitted comfortably, and she had plenty of movement which she demonstrated during the photoshoot, both on land and out in her boat.
