Olympic Dreams: Tim Brabants

Name: Tim Brabants

Event: Canoe Sprint / Kayak Sprint

Date of Birth: 23rd January 1977, (Age 35)

Career Highlight: Winning Olympic gold at Beijing in 2008

Did you know?: Brabants is also a trained doctor, his occupation away from sport

 

Dr Tim Brabants MBE is arguably Britain’s most famous sprint kayaker, who rose to prominence after securing Olympic victory in Beijing in K-1 1000m category. Brabants has enjoyed a long and successful career spanning over three decades, which has seen him claim three Olympic medals and five world championship medals. Heralding from Chertsey in Surrey, Brabants also completed his medical studies at the University of Nottingham in 2005, and is a qualified doctor.

Sprint kayaking is by no means a well known sport and indeed there are numerous disciplines. Canoe sprinting and kayak sprinting are more or less the same, apart from one is raced in canoes and the other in kayaks. Both take place on straight courses of calm water divided into lanes, with differing lengths and numbers of participants in the boat depending on the exact discipline. Brabants’ favourite discipline is the K-1 1000m, where he races alone in a kayak, but he has also enjoyed success in the longer K-1 1500m event.

Brabants started competing in the late 1990s, tasting his first major success in the Sydney Olympics of 2000. There he secured bronze in the K-1 1000m, as he embarked on a highly promising career. The 2002 European Championships in Szeged, Hungary saw the man from Surrey assert himself as one of the best in the world, as he raced to victory in his favoured event. Brabants advanced into the 2004 Athens Olympics in good form but left disappointed and medal less, as he could only finish fifth in the final, despite being the quickest qualifier.

2005 saw Brabants take a year off to complete his studies, and the doctor then returned reinvigorated to enjoy great success in the European and World Championships leading up to Beijing. Beijing 2008 proved to be his greatest moment in his career to date, as he became the first Briton to win gold in either the canoe sprint or slalom. He achieved this in the K-1 1000m where he dominated from start to finish, and added to this with a bronze in the 1500m to cap off a magnificent Olympics.

In 2012 he will be looking to replicate such success. He continued his fantastic form from the Olympics winning silver in Poznan in 2010, and was awarded an MBE by the Queen during the 2009 New Year’s Honours List for his service to kayaking. Victory in London would surpass any of his previous achievements, and write another chapter in British success in this relatively unknown event. It won’t be easy though, as he will face stiff competition from the likes of German Max Hoff, who has been a dominant force in the past few years, and Aleh Yurenia, a Belarusian who has medalled at the past World and European Championships. Brabants’ preparation has also been hampered by a shoulder injury last year, but now the father of one is back to fitness and looking to bounce back in style on the greatest stage on earth.