FLORENCE SOOTHED BY SILVER
BUZZ ALDRIN, who is in town, is the man David Florence wanted to be. But the aspirational astronaut had to settle for another prize in the galaxy — silver in the canoe double. Florence is one of the eternal bridesmaids of the Olympics, yesterday’s silver medal being the third of his career. He desperately wants to win a gold and has not ruled out taking his career on to Tokyo four years hence. But yesterday he seemed content, in contrast to 48 hours earlier when he had finished last in the canoe single final. It was even worse than that it sounds. His run down the foaming water was absurdly slow. And he went so far off course he almost found himself in a favela. But with Richard Hounslow sitting behind him yesterday there was a sense of redemption as they repeated their silver medal performance of London 2012. ‘You don’t have to do too much to pick David up,’ said Hounslow, 34, from Harrow. ‘David is a professional. Sometimes you have just got to let him go off and stew in his own emotions. ‘You slowly start building back. Yesterday he picked up throughout the day. I could see it wasn’t going to take much for him to be really up for a good performance. Controlled anger is almost a good thing. ‘You are out there working hard and pushing hard. That’s what David is so good at. He is focused, he is so powerful and strong. I can just make sure we are controlled at the back and keep us going in the right direction. Top to bottom it was a good run. Maybe not perfect. We were so close to gold, but it was also so close to it not being a medal. Fantastic, delighted.’ Florence, a mathematical physics graduate, applied to be an astronaut but did not make it into the final run-off. He is a popular member of the British team and came close to carrying the British flag at the opening ceremony. ‘I’m not disappointed at all,’ said Scotsman Florence, 34, who has been speaking to local journalists here in Portuguese. ‘I love this sport and I’d love to win a gold medal.’ The British pair were up at the halfway stage by more than a second but then let a few fractions slip away. They finished 0.43sec behind cousins Peter and Ladislav Skantar of Slovakia, while the Czech double of Jonas Kaspar and Marek Sindler, capsized. Hounslow, who was close to accepting a place at Sandhurst eight years ago, is now contemplating life outside a canoe. ‘I might need a real job,’ he said. ‘Apart from delivering pizzas and bar work, I’ve never had one before.’ Hopes of another medal on the white water course were dashed when Fiona Pennie, 33, finished sixth in her C1 final.