Fear of failure pushes Canadian lightweights

RIO DE JANEIRO— It happened a long time ago, an ocean away and four years in the mists. But when Lindsay Jennerich talked on Monday about the heartbreak of her experience at the London Olympics, you could hear the catch in her throat and the slowing of her cadence.

“I can almost cry thinking about it right now,” she said.

Monday, mind you, was not an occasion for tears. A quadrennial removed from a gutting seventhplace finish at their first Summer Games, Jennerich and partner Patricia Obee began their competition in the Olympic lightweight double with a performance that suggested they are the medal contenders they hoped to be in London. The Canadian duo won Monday’s heat and advanced to Wednesday’s semifinal.

And if they expressed an infectious confidence that Rio’s occasionally windblown course would work to their advantage — “Bring on the chop!” Jennerich enthused — they also spent time acknowledging the vulnerability of their pursuit.

“I’m scared to be here,” Jennerich said. “I’ll admit, I’m scared to fail. But we’re doing it anyway. That’s what I want out of this Olympics. I had a massive disappointment (in London), and I’m trying again.”

They’re trying again with the benefit of experience they consider vital. Those who try to minimize this moment — those who try to convince themselves that the Olympics is just another regatta — are, in Jennerich’s opinion, fooling themselves.

“Everyone likes to say, ‘It’s still a two-(kilometre race). It’s still the same people.’ But I think you’re misguided if you actually go off of that,” she said. “Because there’s so much more distraction. Everyone can’t help but feel this is a bigger stage that’s more important – because it is . . . And if you don’t acknowledge those feelings, they’re going to come slamming at you really hard at that start line. And I think that’s what we did in London. We tried to overperform. Because being ourselves wasn’t enough there.”

Being themselves here will be enough, they figure. And the rough waters, which led to the cancellation of racing on Sunday, when the duo was originally slated to race, could help. While flatter conditions Monday allowed organizers to make up the postponed slate, Jennerich and Obee said the prevailing winds made it just bumpy enough for their liking.

“I think we’ve got all bases covered. We’ve got power. We’ve got fitness. We’ve got technique. We’ve got togetherness. We’ve got trust. I think that all those things are only going to be more important when you get the weather slamming at you,” Jennerich said.